Victor Babes
Encyclopedia
Victor Babeș (ˈviktor ˈbabeʃ; 4 July 1854 – 19 October 1926) was a Romania
n physician, biologist
, and one of the earliest bacteriologists
. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies
, leprosy
, diphtheria
, tuberculosis
, and other infectious disease
s.
The Romania
n universities Babeș-Bolyai
in Cluj-Napoca
and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timişoara
bear his name.
(at the time, the capital of the Austrian Empire
) as the son of Vincenţiu Babeş
, an ethnic Romanian from the Banat
region, he studied in Budapest
, then in Vienna, where he received his doctorate
in Science. Attracted by the discoveries of Louis Pasteur
, he left for Paris
, and worked first in Pasteur's laboratory, and then with Victor André Cornil
.
In 1885 he discovered a parasitic
sporozoan
of the tick
s, named Babesia
(of the family
Babesiidae), and which causes a rare and severe disease called babesiosis
. In the same year, he published the first treatise of bacteriology
in the world, Bacteria and their role in the histopathology of infectious diseases, which he co-authored with Cornil.
Babeș' scientific endeavours were wide-ranging. He was the first to demonstrate the presence of tuberculous bacilli
in the urine
of infected patients. He also discovered cellular
inclusions
in rabies-infected nerve cells
. Of diagnostic value, they were to be named after him (Babeș-Negri bodies).
Babeș was one of the founders of serum therapy, and was the first to introduce rabies vaccination
to Romania. His work also had a strong influence upon veterinary medicine
, especially concerning prophylaxis and serum
medication
.
He became a professor of Pathology and Bacteriology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
in Bucharest
. He was also a member of the Romanian Academy
(in 1893), of the Paris
Académie Nationale de Médecine
, and an officer of the French
Légion d'honneur
.
His nephew, Aurel Babeș
, was also a physician, who discovered a screening test for cervical cancer
.
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n physician, biologist
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, and one of the earliest bacteriologists
Microbiology
Microbiology is the study of microorganisms, which are defined as any microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters or no cell at all . This includes eukaryotes, such as fungi and protists, and prokaryotes...
. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
, 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...
, diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, and other infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
s.
The Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n universities Babeș-Bolyai
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
in Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
and the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
bear his name.
Biography
Born in ViennaVienna
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...
(at the time, the capital of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
) as the son of Vincenţiu Babeş
Vincentiu Babes
Vincențiu Babeș ]] , now part of Satchinez, Timiş - January 21, 1821 - January 22, 1907, Budapest) was a Romanian lawyer, teacher, journalist and politician from Banat, settled in Vienna, where he married Sophia Goldschneider in 1851....
, an ethnic Romanian from the Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
region, he studied in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, then in Vienna, where he received his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
in Science. Attracted by the discoveries of 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...
, he left for 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...
, and worked first in Pasteur's laboratory, and then with Victor André Cornil
Victor André Cornil
Victor André Cornil, also André-Victor Cornil was a French pathologist and histologist born in Cusset, Allier.He studied medicine in Paris, earning his doctorate in 1864...
.
In 1885 he discovered a parasitic
Parasitism
Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between organisms of different species where one organism, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host. Traditionally parasite referred to organisms with lifestages that needed more than one host . These are now called macroparasites...
sporozoan
Apicomplexa
The Apicomplexa are a large group of protists, most of which possess a unique organelle called apicoplast and an apical complex structure involved in penetrating a host's cell. They are unicellular, spore-forming, and exclusively parasites of animals. Motile structures such as flagella or...
of the tick
Tick
Ticks are small arachnids in the order Ixodida, along with mites, constitute the subclass Acarina. Ticks are ectoparasites , living by hematophagy on the blood of mammals, birds, and sometimes reptiles and amphibians...
s, named Babesia
Babesia
Babesia is a protozoan parasite of the blood that causes a hemolytic disease known as Babesiosis. There are over 100 species of Babesia identified; however only a handful have been documented as pathogenic in humans....
(of the family
Family
In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...
Babesiidae), and which causes a rare and severe disease called babesiosis
Babesiosis
Babesiosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with Babesia, a genus of protozoal piroplasms. After trypanosomes, Babesia are thought to be the second most common blood parasites of mammals and they can have a major impact on health of domestic animals in areas without severe...
. In the same year, he published the first treatise of bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
in the world, Bacteria and their role in the histopathology of infectious diseases, which he co-authored with Cornil.
Babeș' scientific endeavours were wide-ranging. He was the first to demonstrate the presence of tuberculous bacilli
Bacilli
Bacilli refers to a taxonomic class of bacteria. It includes two orders, Bacillales and Lactobacillales, which contain several well-known pathogens like Bacillus anthracis .-Ambiguity:...
in the urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
of infected patients. He also discovered cellular
Cell (biology)
The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of all known living organisms. It is the smallest unit of life that is classified as a living thing, and is often called the building block of life. The Alberts text discusses how the "cellular building blocks" move to shape developing embryos....
inclusions
Inclusion bodies
Inclusion bodies are nuclear or cytoplasmic aggregates of stainable substances, usually proteins. They typically represent sites of viral multiplication in a bacterium or a eukaryotic cell and usually consist of viral capsid proteins...
in rabies-infected nerve cells
Neuron
A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...
. Of diagnostic value, they were to be named after him (Babeș-Negri bodies).
Babeș was one of the founders of serum therapy, and was the first to introduce rabies vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
to Romania. His work also had a strong influence upon veterinary medicine
Veterinary medicine
Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...
, especially concerning prophylaxis and serum
Serous fluid
In physiology, the term serous fluid is used for various bodily fluids that are typically pale yellow and transparent, and of a benign nature, that fill the inside of body cavities. Serous fluid originates from serous glands, with secretions enriched with proteins and water. Serous fluid may also...
medication
Medication
A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease.- Classification :...
.
He became a professor of Pathology and Bacteriology at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy
Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy is a state-run health sciences University in Bucharest, Romania. It is the largest institution of its kind in Romania with over 2.865 employees, 1.654 teachers and over 4.800 students...
in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. He was also a member of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
(in 1893), of the 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...
Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine
Académie Nationale de Médecine, or National Academy of Medicine was created in 1820 by king Louis XVIII at the urging of baron Antoine Portal. At its inception, the institution was known as the Académie Royale de Médecine...
, and an officer of the French
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...
Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
His nephew, Aurel Babeș
Aurel Babes
Aurel Babeş was a Romanian scientist and one of the discoverers of the vaginal smear as screening test for cervical cancer. He was the nephew of Victor Babeş, co-author of the first treaty of bacteriology....
, was also a physician, who discovered a screening test for cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
.
Eponyms
- Babeș-Ernst bodies: metachromatic inclusions in the cytoplasmCytoplasmThe cytoplasm is a small gel-like substance residing between the cell membrane holding all the cell's internal sub-structures , except for the nucleus. All the contents of the cells of prokaryote organisms are contained within the cytoplasm...
of gram-positive bacteriaBacteriaBacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
such as diphtheriaDiphtheriaDiphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity... - Babeș-Negri bodies: inclusions in rabies-infected nervous cells
- Babesia: parasites of the genus Hemosporidiae
- Babeș-Bolyai: main university in Cluj-Napoca
Selected published works
- Über Poliomyelitis anterior, 1877
- Ueber die selbständige combinirte Seiten- und Hinterstrangsclerose des Rückenmarks, [Virchows] Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin, 1876
- Ueber einen im menschlichen Peritoneum gefundenen Nematoden, [Virchows] Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin, volume LXXXI
- Studien über Safraninfärbung, 1881
- Bakterien des rothen Schweisses, 1881
- Eine experimentelle Studie über den Einfluss des Nervensystems auf die pathologischen Veränderungen der Haut, with Arthur von Irsay, Vierteljahresschrift für Dermatologie
- Les bactéries et leur rôle dans l’anatomie et l’histologie pathologiques des maladies infectieuses, Written with Victor André CornilVictor André CornilVictor André Cornil, also André-Victor Cornil was a French pathologist and histologist born in Cusset, Allier.He studied medicine in Paris, earning his doctorate in 1864...
, 1 volume and Atlas, Paris, F. Alcan, 1885 - Über isoliert färbbare Antheile von Bakterien, Zeitschrift für Hygiene, Leipzig, 1889, 5: 173-190
- Observations sur la morve, Archives de médecine experimentale et d’anatomie pathologique, 1891, 3:619-645
- Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems, with Georges MarinescoGheorghe MarinescuGheorghe Marinescu was a Romanian neurologist, founder of the Romanian School of Neurology.After the attendance of Medicine at the Bucharest University, Marinescu received most of his medical education as preparator at the laboratory of histology at the Brâncoveanu Hospital and as assistant at...
and Paul Oscar BlocqPaul Oscar BlocqPaul Oscar Blocq was a French pathologist who is remembered for his neuropathological work done with Jean-Martin Charcot and Gheorghe Marinescu at the Salpêtrière in Paris....
, Berlin, Hirschwald, 1892 - Untersuchungen über Koch's Kommabacillus, [Virchows] Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin
- Untersuchungen über den Leprabazillus und über die Histologie der Lepra, Berlin, 1898
- Beobachtungen über Riesenzellen, Stuttgart, 1905
- Über die Notwendigkeit der AbVerfahrens der Wutbehandlungänderung des Pasteur'schen, Zeitschrift für Hygiene und Infektionskrankheiten, Leipzig, 1908, 58:401-412.