Alexandre Joseph Émile Brumpt (10 March 1877, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

– 8 July 1951) was a French

parasitologist Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question but by their way of life. This means it f ...

. He studied

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and parasitology in Paris, obtaining his degree in science in 1901, and his medical doctorate in 1906. In 1919 he succeeded Raphaël Blanchard (1857–1919) as professor of parasitology to the

Faculté de Médecine de Paris The University of Paris (), known metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated with the cat ...

, a position he maintained until 1948. Much of his career was spent performing research in Africa and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. Brumpt is credited for introducing a technique known as xenodiagnosis into parasitological research. In 1935, he described ''

Plasmodium gallinaceum ''Plasmodium gallinaceum'' is a species of the genus ''Plasmodium'' (subgenus ''Haemamoeba'') that causes malaria in poultry. Description This species was described by Emile Brumpt, Alexandre Joseph Emile Brumpt (1877–1951) a French professo ...

'', an avian

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 ...

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

that infects chickens and other fowl. He also conducted important research involving the African

tsetse fly Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies) are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Gloss ...

(''Glossina palpalis'') as a biological vector for

trypanosomiasis Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in vertebrates caused by parasitic protozoan trypanosomes of the genus ''Trypanosoma''. In humans this includes African trypanosomiasis and Chagas disease. A number of other disea ...

. In addition, he did extensive studies of the diseases:

schistosomiasis Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, bilharzia, and Katayama fever is a neglected tropical helminthiasis, disease caused by parasitism, parasitic Schistosoma, flatworms called schistosomes. It affects both humans and animals. It affects ...

Chagas disease Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a tropical parasitic disease caused by ''Trypanosoma cruzi''. It is spread mostly by insects in the subfamily Triatominae, known as "kissing bugs". The symptoms change throughout the ...

onchocerciasis Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is a disease caused by infection with the parasitic worm ''Onchocerca volvulus''. Symptoms include severe itching, bumps under the skin, and blindness. It is the second-most common cause of blindne ...

and

leishmaniasis Leishmaniasis is a wide array of clinical manifestations caused by protozoal parasites of the Trypanosomatida genus ''Leishmania''. It is generally spread through the bite of Phlebotominae, phlebotomine Sandfly, sandflies, ''Phlebotomus'' an ...

. He described ''

Blastocystis hominis ''Blastocystis hominis'' is a single-celled Eukaryote, eukaryotic organism that inhabits the gastrointestinal tract of humans and various animals. This stramenopile exhibits significant genetic diversity and has become an organism of increasing s ...

'' and '' Entamoeba dispar''. The latter species helped to explain why most people who appeared to be infected with ''

Entamoeba histolytica ''Entamoeba histolytica'' is an anaerobic organism, anaerobic parasitic amoebozoan, part of the genus ''Entamoeba''. Predominantly infecting humans and other primates causing amoebiasis, ''E. histolytica'' is estimated to infect about 35-50 mil ...

'' were asymptomatic. However, because there are no morphological differences between the two species, his proposal was largely ignored for over 50 years before being proven correct using molecular techniques. The

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

awarded him the Prix Savigny for 1910. A number of parasitic species bear his name, including '' Plasmodium brumpti'' and '' Xenocoeloma brumpti''. Also, a genus of phlebotomine sand flies, '' Brumptomyia'', and a species of Corsican mosquito, '' Culex brumpti'', are named after him. Brumpt's best known written work is ''Précis de Parasitologie'', which was published in six editions between 1910 and 1949. He was the author of many scientific papers, including several on 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 ...

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 ...

and its relationship to malaria. He was the President of the Société zoologique de France in 1922. With Maurice Neveu-Lemaire and Maurice Langeron, he founded in 1923 the parasitological journal ''Annales de Parasitologie Humaine et Comparée'', now continued as ''

Parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

''.

Notes

References

The names of European mosquitoes: Part 7
by Keith Snow

Chronological Highlights (biography)

External links

* http://entamoeba.lshtm.ac.uk/brumpt.htm * http://www.pathexo.fr/pages/english/ObEBrump.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Brumpt, Emile French parasitologists French entomologists Malariologists 1877 births 1951 deaths Scientists from Paris Recipients of the Legion of Honour Manson medal winners