Clemens Peter
Freiherr
(; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...
von Pirquet (12 May 187428 February 1929) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n scientist and
pediatrician
Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...
best known for his contributions to the fields of
bacteriology and
immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see ther ...
.
Career
Born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, he studied theology at the
University of Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck (german: Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck; la, Universitas Leopoldino Franciscea) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. ...
and philosophy at the
University of Leuven before he enrolled at the
University of Graz where he became a
doctor of medicine
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...
in 1900. He started practicing at the Children's Clinic in Vienna.
In 1906 he noticed that patients who had previously received injections of horse serum or
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
vaccine had quicker, more severe reactions to a second injection. He coined the word
allergy
Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derm ...
(from the Greek ''allos'' meaning "other" and ''ergon'' meaning "work") to describe this
hypersensitivity
Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction or intolerance) refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity. They are usually referred to as an over-reaction of the immune ...
reaction.
Soon after, the observation with smallpox led Pirquet to realize that
tuberculin
Tuberculin, also known as purified protein derivative, is a combination of proteins that are used in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This use is referred to as the tuberculin skin test and is recommended only for those at high risk. Reliable admi ...
, which
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( , ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera (though the bacteri ...
isolated from the
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...
that cause
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
in 1890, might lead to a similar type of reaction.
Charles Mantoux
Charles Mantoux (; May 14, 1877, Paris – 1947) was a French physician and the developer of the eponymous serological test for tuberculosis.
He graduated from the University of Paris, where he studied under Broca. For health reasons, he relocate ...
expanded upon Pirquet's ideas and the
Mantoux test
The Mantoux test or Mendel–Mantoux test (also known as the Mantoux screening test, tuberculin sensitivity test, Pirquet test, or PPD test for purified protein derivative) is a tool for screening for tuberculosis (TB) and for tuberculosis diagn ...
, in which tuberculin is injected into the skin, became a diagnostic test for tuberculosis in 1907.
In 1909 he declined proposals to take a position at the
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vacc ...
in Paris and to become a professor at the
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
. In 1910 he returned to Europe taking positions in
Breslau (now Wrocław) and then Vienna.
Suicide
On 28 February 1929 Clemens von Pirquet and his wife committed suicide with
potassium cyanide
Potassium cyanide is a compound with the formula KCN. This colorless crystalline salt, similar in appearance to sugar, is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications inc ...
.
Thomas M. Daniel ''Pioneers of Medicine and Their Impact on Tuberculosis, Part 184''
/ref>
See also
* Guido von Pirquet
References
Further reading
Who Named It - Pirquet
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070930093555/http://www.cvpfoundation.eu/ EAACI – Clemens von Pirquet FOUNDATIONbr>Clemens von Pirquet, Allergie 1910
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External links
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Clemens von Pirquet on 50 Euro Gold Coin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirquet, Clemens von
Barons of Austria
1874 births
1929 suicides
Joint suicides
Austrian pediatricians
Austrian immunologists
Jewish physicians
Jewish microbiologists
Austrian bacteriologists
1929 deaths