Professor Rudolf Stefan Weigl (1883 - 1957) was a famous Polish biologist and inventor of the first effective vaccine for epidemic typhus. Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland A biologist is a Scientist devoted to and producing results in Biology through the study of Organisms Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship A vaccine is a biological preparation which is used to establish or improve immunity to a particular disease Typhus is any of several similar diseases caused by Louse -borne bacteria Of German ethnic descent, he was born in Přerov, Moravia, and graduated in 1907 from the University of Lviv with a degree in Natural Sciences. Přerov ('pr̝̊ɛrof is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic, situated on the Bečva river. Moravia (Morava; Morawy Moravie Moravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. Year 1907 ( MCMVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year History Beginnings The University was founded on January 20 1661 when the King John II Casimir of Poland issued the diploma granting the city's
He founded the Weigl Institute in Lviv, Ukraine, where he did his vaccine-producing research. Lviv ( Ukrainian: Львів, L’viv, Lwów Lemberg Львов L'vov; see also other names) is a major city in western Ukraine (Україна Ukrayina, /ukrɑˈjinɑ/ is a country in Eastern Europe. At the same time, he employed and protected Polish intellectuals, Jews and members of the Polish underground during the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany occupations in World War II, until the Institute was shut down when the Soviet Union returned in 1944 [1]. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland An intellectual (from the adjective meaning "involving thought and reason" is a person who tries to use his or her Intelligence and analytical thinking, PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ Polish Underground State (Polskie Państwo Podziemne also known as Polish Secret State) refers to all underground resistance organizations in Poland during The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Method of Vaccine Production
In 1930, following on the 1909 discovery of Charles Nicolle that lice were the vector of epidemic typhus and on the work for the vaccine for the closely related Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Weigl took the next step and developed a technique to produce the vaccine by growing infected lice and crushing them into a vaccine paste. Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Charles Jules Henry Nicolle ( September 21, 1866 Rouen - February 28, 1936) was a French Bacteriologist who received Lice (singular louse) ( order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3000 Species of wingless Insects three of which are classified In Epidemiology, a vector is an Organism that does not cause Disease itself but which transmits Infection by conveying Pathogens from Typhus is any of several similar diseases caused by Louse -borne bacteria Rocky Mountain spotted fever is the most severe and most frequently reported Rickettsial illness in the United States. He refined this technique over the years until 1933 when he performed large-scale testing. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The method specifically broke into 4 major steps:
- Growing healthy lice, for about 12 days
- Injecting them with typhus
- Growing them more, for 5 more days
- Extracting the midguts and grinding them up into a paste (which was the vaccine)
Growing lice meant feeding them blood, the more human the better. At first he tested his method on Guinea pigs but around 1933 he commenced large-scale testing on humans, feeding the lice on human blood by letting them suck on human legs through a screen. The Guinea pig (also commonly called the cavy after its scientific name Cavia porcellus) is a species of Rodent belonging to the family Caviidae Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This could cause typhus during the latter phase, when the lice were infected. He alleviated this problem by vaccinating the human "injectors" heavily, which successfully prevented them from death (though some did develop the disease). [2] Dr. Weigl himself developed the disease, but recovered.
The first major application of this vaccine was between 1936 and 1943 by Belgian missionaries in China. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1943 ( MCMXLIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1943 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National
This vaccine was dangerous to produce and was hard to make on a large scale. Other vaccines were developed over time that were less dangerous and more economical to produce, including the Cox vaccine developed from egg yolk. An egg yolk is the part of an egg which serves as the Food source for the developing Embryo inside
External links
- Biography of Weigl (1967) by Stefan Kryński
- Page with many Weigl links and pictures
- Overview of the experiment--Maintenance of human-fed live lice in the laboratory and production of Weigl's exanthematous typhus vaccine (1999) by Wacław Szybalski
- Ann. Acad. Med. Gedan., 1974, 4, 19-51 by Stefan Krynski, Eugeniusz Becla, and Marian Machel
- Bibliography of typhus and Weigl history articles from PubMed
- Nominations for the Nobel Prize between 1930-1939
- News article about receipt of "Righteous Among the Nations of the World" medal for helping Jews during WWII
- Recollections of Halina Szymanska Ogrodzinska, reporting the underground activities of the Weigl Institute
- Pictures of the Weigl Institute and a little history
- How Charles Nicolle of the Pasteur Institute discovered that epidemic typhus is transmitted by lice: reminiscences from my years at the Pasteur Institute in Paris by Ludwik Gross, August 6, 1996
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