Clemens Peter

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , ) and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in ...

von Pirquet (12 May 187428 February 1929) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n scientist and pediatrician best known for his contributions to the fields of

bacteriology Bacteriology is the branch and specialty of biology that studies the Morphology (biology), morphology, ecology, genetics and biochemistry of bacteria as well as many other aspects related to them. This subdivision of microbiology involves the iden ...

and

immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...

Career

Born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, he studied theology at the

University of Innsbruck The University of Innsbruck (; ) is a public research university in Innsbruck, the capital of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol, founded on October 15, 1669. It is the largest education facility in the Austrian States of Austria, ...

and philosophy at the University of Leuven before he enrolled at the University of Graz where he became a

doctor of medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

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 (W ...

vaccine had quicker, more severe reactions to a second injection. He coined the word

allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are various conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include Allergic rhinitis, hay fever, Food allergy, food al ...

(from the Greek ''allos'' meaning "other" and ''ergon'' meaning "work") to describe this

hypersensitivity Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction or intolerance) is an abnormal physiological condition in which there is an undesirable and adverse immune response to an antigen. It is an abnormality in the immune system that causes Imm ...

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 adm ...

, 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 and anthrax, he i ...

isolated from the

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

that cause

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in 1890, might lead to a similar type of reaction.

Charles Mantoux Charles Mantoux (; May 14, 1877, Paris – May 3, 1947, Le Cannet) was a French physician and the developer of the eponymous serological test for tuberculosis. Biography Mantoux graduated from the University of Paris, where he studied under B ...

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 (medicine), screening for tuberculosis, tuberculo ...

, 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 (, ) 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 vaccines for anthrax and rabies. Th ...

in Paris and to become a professor at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. 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. It is a colorless salt, similar in appearance to sugar, that is highly soluble in water. Most KCN is used in gold mining, organic synthesis, and electroplating. Smaller applications include ...

.Thomas M. Daniel ''Pioneers of Medicine and Their Impact on Tuberculosis, Part 184''
/ref>

References

External links

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Clemens von Pirquet on 50 Euro Gold Coin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirquet, Clemens von Austrian barons 1874 births 1929 suicides Joint suicides Austrian pediatricians Austrian immunologists Jewish physicians Jewish biologists Austrian bacteriologists 1929 deaths Physicians from Austria-Hungary

Career

Suicide

See also

References

Further reading

External links