Adolfo Lutz
Encyclopedia
Adolfo Lutz was a Brazil
ian physician
, 1855-1940, father of tropical medicine
and medical zoology
in Brazil, and a pioneer epidemiologist
and researcher in infectious diseases.
Lutz was born in Rio de Janeiro
, on December 18, 1855, to a family of Swiss
origin. He studied medicine
in Switzerland, graduating in 1879 at the University of Bern. After graduation he went on to study experimental medicine techniques in London
, England
(where he studied with Joseph Lister
, 1827-1912), Leipzig
, Germany
, Vienna
, Austria
, Prague
and Paris
, France
(where he studied with Louis Pasteur
, 1822-1895).
Upon his return to Brazil in 1881, Lutz initially worked as a general clinician in the small city of Limeira
, state of São Paulo
for 6 years. Wishing to pursue medical research, he returned to Hamburg
, Germany
once again, to work with Paul Gerson Unna
(1850-1929), specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine
. As a result of his increasing fame, he was invited to the post of director of Kalihi Hospital, in Hawaii
, where he carried out research on leprosy
. Following this, he worked for a while in California
, USA, before returning in 1892 to Brazil, attending an invitation from the government of the state of São Paulo to direct the Bacteriological Institute (later renamed in his honor to Instituto Adolfo Lutz
, still in existence today in the city of São Paulo. The city of Santos
was undergoing a severe epidemic
of bubonic plague
and Lutz went to work on it together with two other young physicians who would become luminaries of Brazilian medicine, Emílio Ribas and Vital Brazil
. Vital Brazil and Lutz became friends, and Lutz supported Vital Brazil's pioneering research on antivenoms for snake
bites, contributing decisively for the creation of another research institution in São Paulo, exclusively devoted to ophydism, the Instituto Butantan
. This serology institute hosted a plant for producing vaccine
s and antisera
against several diseases, such as smallpox
and plague.
Lutz was the first Latin American scientist to study in depth and to confirm the mechanisms of transmission of yellow fever
by the Aedes aegypti
species of mosquito
es, its natural reservoir
and vector, as they had been discovered a few years before, by American physician Walter Reed
. Lutz was also responsible for the identification of South American blastomycosis, which received his name (Lutz-Splendore-de-Almeida disease). His dedication to public health was also paramount to the research and fight of several epidemics in many points in Brazil, such as cholera
, bubonic plague
, smallpox
, typhoid fever
, malaria
, ankylostomiasis, schistosomiasis
and leishmaniasis
; which were then widely prevalent as tropical diseases in the state, due to the poor conditions of poverty
, hygiene
and ignorance about its transmission mechanisms. To this purpose, Lutz travelled widely across Brazil, visiting often the country's hinterland along the São Francisco River
.
Among his many accomplishments, Adolfo Lutz was also a pioneer researcher on medical entomology
and the therapeutic properties of Brazilian plants (botany
, ethnopharmacology
and phytotherapy
). As a zoologist, he described several new species of amphibians and insects such as Anopheles lutzii (an Anopheles
mosquito).
After his retirement in 1908, Dr. Adolfo Lutz moved to Rio de Janeiro
, where he worked for 32 more years, until his death, on October 6, 1940, at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
, created by another great Brazilian physician and epidemiologist, Oswaldo Cruz
, and where he was a director of the Institute of Experimental Pathology.
Berta Lutz
(1894-1976), an important Brazilian zoologist, feminist and politician, was his daughter.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, 1855-1940, father of tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....
and medical zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
in Brazil, and a pioneer epidemiologist
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
and researcher in infectious diseases.
Lutz was born in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, on December 18, 1855, to a family of Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
origin. He studied medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
in Switzerland, graduating in 1879 at the University of Bern. After graduation he went on to study experimental medicine techniques in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(where he studied with Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, FRS, PC , known as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., between 1883 and 1897, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary...
, 1827-1912), Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(where he studied with Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...
, 1822-1895).
Upon his return to Brazil in 1881, Lutz initially worked as a general clinician in the small city of Limeira
Limeira
Limeira is a city in the eastern part of the Brazilian state of São Paulo. The population in 2004 is 270,733 and the area is 582.48 km². The elevation is 588 m. It is 154 km far from São Paulo, the state capital, and 1011 km far from Brasilia, Brazil's capital...
, state of São Paulo
São Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
for 6 years. Wishing to pursue medical research, he returned to Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
once again, to work with Paul Gerson Unna
Paul Gerson Unna
Paul Gerson Unna, was a German physician specialized in dermatology and one of the pioneers in dermatopathology....
(1850-1929), specializing in infectious diseases and tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....
. As a result of his increasing fame, he was invited to the post of director of Kalihi Hospital, in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, where he carried out research on leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
. Following this, he worked for a while in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA, before returning in 1892 to Brazil, attending an invitation from the government of the state of São Paulo to direct the Bacteriological Institute (later renamed in his honor to Instituto Adolfo Lutz
Instituto Adolfo Lutz
Instituto Adolfo Lutz is an analytical laboratory, being accredited as a National Laboratory of Public Health and Reference Laboratory Macroregional the Brazilian Ministry of Health, based in Sao Paulo. It is the result of the junction Bacteriological Institute with the DIETETIC LABORATORIES,...
, still in existence today in the city of São Paulo. The city of Santos
Santos (São Paulo)
-Sister cities: Shimonoseki, Japan Nagasaki, Japan Funchal, Portugal Trieste, Italy Coimbra, Portugal Ansião, Portugal Arouca, Portugal Ushuaia, Argentina Havana, Cuba Taizhou. China Ningbo. China Constanţa, Romania Ulsan, South Korea Colón, Panama* Cadiz, Spain...
was undergoing a severe epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
of bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and Lutz went to work on it together with two other young physicians who would become luminaries of Brazilian medicine, Emílio Ribas and Vital Brazil
Vital Brazil
Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha, known as Vital Brazil was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and immunologist, internationally renowned for the discovery of the polyvalent anti-ophidic serum used to treat bites of venomous snakes of the Crotalus, Bothrops and Elaps genera. He went on...
. Vital Brazil and Lutz became friends, and Lutz supported Vital Brazil's pioneering research on antivenoms for snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
bites, contributing decisively for the creation of another research institution in São Paulo, exclusively devoted to ophydism, the Instituto Butantan
Instituto Butantan
Instituto Butantan is a Brazilian biomedical research center affiliated to the São Paulo State Secretary of Health. It is located near the campus of the University of São Paulo, in the city of the same name.-History:...
. This serology institute hosted a plant for producing vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
s and antisera
Antiserum
Antiserum is blood serum containing polyclonal antibodies. Antiserum is used to pass on passive immunity to many diseases. Passive antibody transfusion from a previous human survivor is the only known effective treatment for Ebola infection .The most common use of antiserum in humans is as...
against several diseases, such as smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
and plague.
Lutz was the first Latin American scientist to study in depth and to confirm the mechanisms of transmission of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
by the Aedes aegypti
Aedes aegypti
The yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti is a mosquito that can spread the dengue fever, Chikungunya and yellow fever viruses, and other diseases. The mosquito can be recognized by white markings on legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the thorax...
species of mosquito
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es, its natural reservoir
Natural reservoir
Natural reservoir or nidus, refers to the long-term host of the pathogen of an infectious disease. It is often the case that hosts do not get the disease carried by the pathogen or it is carried as a subclinical infection and so asymptomatic and non-lethal...
and vector, as they had been discovered a few years before, by American physician Walter Reed
Walter Reed
Major Walter Reed, M.D., was a U.S. Army physician who in 1900 led the team that postulated and confirmed the theory that yellow fever is transmitted by a particular mosquito species, rather than by direct contact...
. Lutz was also responsible for the identification of South American blastomycosis, which received his name (Lutz-Splendore-de-Almeida disease). His dedication to public health was also paramount to the research and fight of several epidemics in many points in Brazil, such as cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
, smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
, malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, ankylostomiasis, schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...
and leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by protozoan parasites that belong to the genus Leishmania and is transmitted by the bite of certain species of sand fly...
; which were then widely prevalent as tropical diseases in the state, due to the poor conditions of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, hygiene
Hygiene
Hygiene refers to the set of practices perceived by a community to be associated with the preservation of health and healthy living. While in modern medical sciences there is a set of standards of hygiene recommended for different situations, what is considered hygienic or not can vary between...
and ignorance about its transmission mechanisms. To this purpose, Lutz travelled widely across Brazil, visiting often the country's hinterland along the São Francisco River
São Francisco River
The São Francisco is a river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil...
.
Among his many accomplishments, Adolfo Lutz was also a pioneer researcher on medical entomology
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
and the therapeutic properties of Brazilian plants (botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
, ethnopharmacology
Ethnopharmacology
Ethnopharmacology is the scientific study of ethnic groups and their use of drugs.Ethnopharmacology is distinctly linked to plant use, botany, as this is the main delivery of pharmaceuticals. It is also often associated with ethnopharmacy...
and phytotherapy
Phytotherapy
Phytotherapy is the study of the use of extracts from natural origin as medicines or health-promoting agents.Traditional phytotherapy is often used as synonym for herbalism and regarded as "alternative medicine" by much of Western medicine, although effects of many substances found in plants have...
). As a zoologist, he described several new species of amphibians and insects such as Anopheles lutzii (an Anopheles
Anopheles
Anopheles is a genus of mosquito. There are approximately 460 recognized species: while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus Plasmodium, which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas...
mosquito).
After his retirement in 1908, Dr. Adolfo Lutz moved to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, where he worked for 32 more years, until his death, on October 6, 1940, at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation is a scientific institution for research and development in biomedical sciences located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, it is considered one of the world's main public health research institutions. It was founded by Dr...
, created by another great Brazilian physician and epidemiologist, Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Cruz
Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz, better known as Oswaldo Cruz |São Paulo]] state, Brazil – February 11, 1917, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro state) was a Brazilian physician, bacteriologist, epidemiologist and public health officer and the founder of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute.He also occupied the 5th chair of...
, and where he was a director of the Institute of Experimental Pathology.
Berta Lutz
Berta Lutz
Berta Maria Júlia Lutz was a zoologist, and scientist who became a leading figure of the feminist movement in Brazil....
(1894-1976), an important Brazilian zoologist, feminist and politician, was his daughter.
External links
- Instituto Adolfo Lutz. Home page.
- Sabrosky's Family Group Names in Diptera References to Lutz work on Diptera.