1926 年,他将自己的疾病资料整理出版:《A Treatise on Pneumonic Plague》(Geneva: League of Nations, Health Organization, 1926,肺鼠疫论述)。这部 480 页的鼠疫理论专著,正式创立了「肺鼠疫」学说,被誉为「鼠疫研究的里程碑」。
"The Old China, to which the author had devoted the best part of his life, from the later days of the Manchu Dynasty through the formative years of the Chinese Republic until the collapse of the Kuomintang regime, is still fresh in the minds of many, and it is hoped that the ascendency of the new Chines People’s Government may result in the continued happiness and prospersity of that great country, which in the course of its 4000-5000 years of history has seen so many triumphs and vicissitudes before achieving its present status in this everchanging world." Wu Lien-Teh
在 2007 年,诺贝尔官方公布了 1901~1951 年的所有获得提名的科学家。在生理和医学奖中,50 年来,只有一位中国人的名字出现在这份名单中。他获得提名的理由是「Work on Pneumonic Plague and especially the discovery of the role played by the Tarbagan in its transmission」。