Giuseppe Bastianelli (25 October 1862 – 30 March 1959) was an Italian

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

and

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

who worked on

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

and was the personal physician of

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

Born in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Bastianelli was initially interested in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

and

neurology Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix wikt:-logia, -logia, "study of") is the branch of specialty (medicine) , medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous syst ...

; subsequently he became interested in the study of

. He worked in the "Santo Spirito a Roma" hospital with

Ettore Marchiafava Ettore Marchiafava (3 January 1847 – 22 October 1935) was an Italian physician, pathologist and neurologist. He spent most of his career as professor of medicine at the University of Rome (now Sapienza Università di Roma). His works on malar ...

, Angelo Celli and Amico Bignami, studying the clinical aspects of this disease. He then moved to the

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome (), formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", abbreviated simply as Sapienza ('Wisdom'), is a Public university, public research university located in Rome, Italy. It was founded in 1303 and is ...

where he directed l'Istituto di Malariologia, the Institute of Malarial studies dedicated to

, where he worked until he died. The institute was a major contributor to the campaign that led to the complete eradication of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Biography

Early life

Giuseppe Bastianelli was born in Rome on October 25, 1862, in a family originally from

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, from Giulio Bastianelli and Teresa Zanca. Being the son of Giulio Bastianelli, chief physician in the

Ospedale di Santo Spirito in Sassia The Hospital of the Holy Spirit () is the oldest hospital in Europe, located in Rome, Italy. It now serves as a convention center. The complex lies in rione Borgo, east of Vatican City and next to the modern Ospedale di Santo Spirito (which cont ...

and municipal councilor, as well as the nephew of a

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

operating in Trevi in Umbria, Giuseppe Bastianelli grew up in a medical-influenced environment, along with his younger brother Raffaele Bastianelli. This oriented his younger self towards the development of medical interests, which he will then explore and deepen during his university years. His elder brother Raffaele Bastianelli (

, 26 December 1863 –

, 1 September 1961) undertook a successful career as well, being a surgeon specialized in

oncology Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's Etymology, etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγ ...

as well as a political figure due to his nomination of senator.

Studies and career

Giuseppe Bastianelli attended the Medicine faculty at the University of Rome, and he explored with diligence the subjects of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and

but especially of

, soon becoming a student of the physiologist

Jacob Moleschott Jacob Moleschott (; ; 9 August 1822 – 20 May 1893) was a Dutch physiologist and writer on nutrition and dietetics. He was known for his philosophical and political positions in regard to scientific materialism and against vitalism. He saw a nee ...

, with whom he started interesting investigations on intestinal juices, which were unfortunately interrupted then for lack of means. He also studied

with

Stanislao Cannizzaro Stanislao Cannizzaro ( , , ; 13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860. Biography Ca ...

. He obtained a medical degree in 1885 and thus, a medical culture of the highest order was formed, which later made him gain recognition even outside of Italy (primarily in America, England and Germany). In 1891, at twenty-nine years old, Bastianelli earned the title of primary doctor in the ''

, where he worked alongside the physicians Angelo Celli,

and Amico Bignami, especially in the field of the

physiopathology Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...

. He became professor at

and dirigent of The Institute of Malariology "E. Marchiafava", and he was the only member of the Roman School of Malariology to take part in the campaign of eradication of malaria, in support of the work of Alberto Coluzzi.

Political and later life

Giuseppe Bastianelli was then awarded the nomination of

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

in 1939, due to his admirable scientific accomplishments, and he was able to get the recognition he deserved for his excellence in both the medical and social field. He died in

on March 30, 1959, at the age of ninety-six.

Research

Work on Anopheles

Bastianelli Bastianelli is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alfredo Bastianelli (born in Rome, 1951), Italian diplomat *Giuseppe Bastianelli (1862–1959), Italian physician and zoologist *Marta Bastianelli (born 1987), Italian cy ...

dedicated himself to a long series of researches on the various clinical forms of

, a life-threatening

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

that represented one of the most serious issues of the social medicine of his time and that claimed many human victims in some areas close to

, where himself lived. Between 1880 and 1885, he and his colleagues Angelo Celli,

, Amico Bignami,

Camillo Golgi Camillo Golgi (; 7 July 184321 January 1926) was an Italian biologist and pathologist known for his works on the central nervous system. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia (where he later spent most of his professional career) bet ...

and

Giovanni Battista Grassi Giovanni Battista Grassi (27 March 1854 – 4 May 1925) was an Italian people, Italian physician and zoologist, best known for his pioneering works on parasitology, especially on malariology. He was Professor of Comparative Zoology at the Unive ...

contributed to the resolution of this big social and sanitary issue by associating a different species of

Plasmodium ''Plasmodium'' is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of vertebrates and insects. The life cycles of ''Plasmodium'' species involve development in a Hematophagy, blood-feeding insect host (biology), host which then inj ...

to each type of malaric fever: the most severe form of malaria, called ''terzana maligna'' was attributed to

Plasmodium falciparum ''Plasmodium falciparum'' is a Unicellular organism, unicellular protozoan parasite of humans and is the deadliest species of ''Plasmodium'' that causes malaria in humans. The parasite is transmitted through the bite of a female ''Anopheles'' mos ...

, while a milder form of the disease called ''terzana benigna'' was associated to

Plasmodium vivax ''Plasmodium vivax'' is a protozoal parasite and a human pathogen. This parasite is the most frequent and widely distributed cause of recurring malaria. Although it is less virulent than ''Plasmodium falciparum'', the deadliest of the five huma ...

. The research that, among all, gave Bastianelli his fame was that on the cycle of the parasite in the

anopheles ''Anopheles'' () is a genus of mosquito first described by the German entomologist Johann Wilhelm Meigen, J. W. Meigen in 1818, and are known as nail mosquitoes and marsh mosquitoes. Many such mosquitoes are Disease vector, vectors of the paras ...

. Bastianelli and Bignami worked on anopheles that were caught and sent to them by Grassi and fed with the blood of malarici, allowing them to finally obtain the development of the parasite: they could therefore describe all the phases of the sporogonic cycle of Plasmodium Vivax from the Cocists stage of 42 hours until the formation and liberation of the sporozoites, and they presented their report on the subject to the

Accademia dei Lincei The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...

on December the 4th 1898. Between September 1898 and February 1899,

, entomologist at the Roman School of

Malariology Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seiz ...

, concluded the work on the identification of

vectors, and together with Bastianelli and Bignami he clarified the biological pattern of plasmodia from Anopheles

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

to man in studies conducted in

in Rome using

Anopheles claviger ''Anopheles claviger'' is a mosquito species found in Palearctic realm covering Europe, North Africa, northern Arabian Peninsula, and northern Asia. It is responsible for transmitting malaria in some of these regions. The mosquito is made up of ...

. Text was copied from this source, which is available under
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
license. Once the biological pattern of malaria transmission had been identified, all the possible breaking points in the transmission chain were considered to achieve the target of stopping it. Bastianelli was also among the firsts attempting to conduct modern clinical trials in Italy on antimalarial agents, in respect of which

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

used is particularly relevant. Main features of his trials are the attention to both historical controls and concurrent controls, the accurate description of side effects, the interest in the short-term findings to assess whether the action of the preventive or therapeutic interventions persisted over time.

Work on Leukocytes

Between 1891 and 1892,

dedicated himself to the study of the function of

leukocytes White blood cells (scientific name leukocytes), also called immune cells or immunocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign entities. White blood cells are genera ...

in the

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

, concluding that circulating mononucleated

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

s behave in the same way as the fixed elements of the splenic and medullary pulp with which they share the morphological significance: an observation that anticipated the concept of the

reticuloendothelial system In anatomy the term reticuloendothelial system (abbreviated RES), often associated nowadays with the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS), was employed by the beginning of the 20th century to denote a system of specialised cells that effectively cl ...

, which was established only some years later. In addition, he illustrated the

pathogenesis In pathology, pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes . Descript ...

hemoglobinuria Hemoglobinuria is a condition in which the oxygen transport protein hemoglobin is found in abnormally high concentrations in the urine. The condition is caused by excessive intravascular hemolysis, in which large numbers of red blood cells (RBC ...

and the passage of parasites from mother to

fetus A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic development, embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Pren ...

Teaching

New Teaching Method

In 1926, Bastianelli was entrusted with the teaching of medical semeiotics at the University of Rome, occupying the first chair of semiotics in

, which he left in 1935 for age limits. His vast culture allowed him to form a large group of pupils, and he established a new educational course which was mainly practical and consisted in putting small groups of students in contact with the patient and instructing them with the help of his collaborators. The method became established and was followed by numerous doctors; practical teaching was supplemented by a few theoretical lessons, real essays on

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

applied to sick people. He endowed and enriched the institute, even only for generous personal donations, of the best scientific apparatus.

Institute of Malariology

The Institute

was born as an evolution of the Superior School of

, established in

in 1925 as an output of the international Congress of malaria. The school was established with the aim of ''Promoting studies and training on all the medical problems related to malaria and on the reclamation and on the cultivation of marshy areas.'' Initially, the institute was directed by Professor Vittorio Ascoli and had its headquarters at the Medical Center of the Royal University of Rome.

succeeded to Ascoli, being appointed Director on March 25, 1931. With the new direction, the school was relocated from the medical clinic to the IX pavilion of the

Policlinico Umberto I Located in the Quartiere San Lorenzo, the Policlinico Umberto I of Rome is the polyclinic of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Sapienza Università di Roma. It is the largest hospital in Europe in terms of occupied area and the third h ...

. Six years on from its creation, the School was transformed into the ''Institute of

'' because more suitable toward research. The Institute had the aim of teaching malariology and studying malaria.Majori, G. Napolitani, F. Il Laboratorio di Malariologia, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Quaderno 5. Pag 9-16 PDF file available fro

/ref> In the Institute there were courses of specialization for doctors from all over the world, initially promoted by the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, to create competent personnel to be sent to the different countries struggling with malaria. During these courses, Bastianelli organized trips and visits to the areas of

most plagued by

to illustrate the organization and defensive and

prophylactic Preventive healthcare, or prophylaxis, is the application of healthcare measures to prevent diseases.Hugh R. Leavell and E. Gurney Clark as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical and mental health a ...

network against it and to raise awareness on chronic

. Over the years, he followed the development of studies on

. Later, during the conflict of the Second World War, the Laboratory of

continued its work of research, despite the imaginable difficulties of the moment. The activity, in fact, took place mainly in the laboratory and to a very limited extent in the field. Giuseppe Bastianelli was the only member of the ''Roman School of

'' to take part in the campaign of eradication of

, supporting the work of Alberto Coluzzi.

Main Publications

* ''On spring malarial infection'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1890. * ''Observations on summer-autumn malarial forms'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1890. * ''On the transmission of malaria parasites from mother to fetus'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1892. * ''Studies on malarial infection''; in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1893–94. * ''Sur la nature des parasites des fièvres estate-autoninales'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1895. * ''Combined sclerosis of the spinal cord in pernicious anemias'', 1895–96. * ''Cultivation of man’s malarial half-moons in the Anopheles Claviger'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami and

, 1898. * ''On the development of tertian parasites in the Anopheles Claviger'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1898–1899. * ''Resoconto degli studi fatti sulla malaria durante il mese di gennaio'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami and

, 1899. * ''Weitere Untersuchungen úber den Lebenslauf der menschlichen Malariaparasiten in Körper des Moskito''; in collaboration with Amico Bignami and

, 1899. * ''Untersuchungen die malaria'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami and

, 1900. * ''Ueber die Structur der Malariaparasiten, insbesondere der Gameten der Parasiten des Aestivoautumnalfieber'', in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1900. * ''Plasmodium Falciparum''; in collaboration with Amico Bignami, 1900. * ''Considerations on the treatment of malaria'', 1933. * ''On the treatment of malaria: Immunity and therapy'', 1936. * ''Malaria'', in Lo Sperimentale, 1941. * ''What must be done to prevent and treat malaria in Sanitary Forces'', 1941. * ''Exo-Erythrocytic forms of malaria parasites'', 1948.

References

Bibliography

''Bastianelli Giuseppe'', su Treccani, Enciclopedie on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
* Bastianelli G., Canalis A., Mosna E., ''Prevention and Treatment of Malaria by synthetic drugs: Field Experiments'', The James Lind Library, 1937/2010.
Battaglia F., Campofiorito N., Deplano C., ''Malaria''

Cardillo M., ''Bastianelli Giuseppe'', 2017
* Conci, C., ''Repertorio delle biografie e bibliografie degli scrittori e cultori italiani di entomologia. Memorie della Società Entomologica Italiana'', 817–1069, 1969/1975. * Conci, C. & Poggi, R., ''Iconography of Italian entomologists, with essential biographical data'', 75 159–382, 418 figures, 1996. * Caxalis, A. , Lega G., Raffaele, G., astianelli, G.''Rivista di Malariologia'', Portrait, 1959. * Cox, Francis EG, ''History of the Discovery of the Malaria Parasites and Their Vectors'', Parasites & Vectors 3, 2010. * Garattini, S., Italian controlled trials to assess prevention and treatment of malaria, 1900-1930s. JLL Bulletin: Commentaries on the history of treatment evaluation, 201

* Howard, L. O., ''Bastianelli, G.'' "Smithson. Miscell. Coll", 84 468, 491, 580, 1930. * Raffaele, G., ''Bastianelli, G.'' 20 223–228, 1959. * Sebastiani, A., ''I Disturbi Del Ritmo Cardiaco: Prefazione Di Giuseppe Bastianelli'', Biblioteca Nazionale Di Firenze, 1924.
Senato, ''Scheda Senatore BASTIANELLI Giuseppe''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bastianelli, Giuseppe 1862 births 1959 deaths Physicians from Rome Italian zoologists 20th-century Italian physicians Malariologists Italian tropical physicians