Derrick Tovey
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Lucas Alfred Derrick Tovey (1926 – 16 November 2015), was a British
pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
who shortly after being appointed consultant at St Luke's Hospital in
Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...
,
West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
, England, recognised the first cases of
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 ...
in the early days of the Bradford smallpox outbreak of 1962. Over the subsequent three days a further eight cases of smallpox were detected and Tovey subsequently became in charge of infection control at St Luke's and given the responsibility of liaising with the medical officers of health and the press. He later attributed the successful containment of the outbreak to effective
contact tracing In public health, contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have been exposed to an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further data to assess transmission. By tracing the contacts of infected individua ...
,
surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...
and
vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
. From 1966 to 1988 he was director of the Yorkshire Region Transfusion Centre, and from 1980 to 1988 he was chairman of the anti-D working party Department of Health and Social Security. His contributions led to the routine use of Anti-D to prevent RhD isoimmunization in mothers who are RhD negative in the UK. His data from the Yorkshire Regional Transfusion Centre showed that by introducing anti-D prophylaxis, the number of deaths in newborns due to
Rh disease Rh disease (also known as rhesus isoimmunization, Rh (D) disease, or rhesus incompatibility, and blue baby disease) is a type of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). The term "Rh disease" is commonly used to refer to HDFN due to a ...
dropped from 66 in 1970 to one by 1989.


Early life and education

Derrick Tovey was born in 1926 in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, where he lived with his parents above their grocery store. Following inspiration as a
St John's Ambulance St John Ambulance is an affiliated movement of charitable organisations in mostly Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries which provide first aid education and consumables and emergency medical services. St John organisations are primari ...
cadet when in his teens, he gained admission to the
University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...
to study medicine and later took up an appointment as a
blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's Circulatory system, circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used ...
officer at the
Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
, London. His training had been in all branches of general
pathology Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
including
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 ...
.


Early career

In January 1962, he was a fairly new consultant at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, having moved with his wife Kay to Yorkshire. On 11 January he received two identical blood samples from two unrelated severely ill people from two different hospitals. After consulting a colleague and looking back through historical texts, he recognised the blood samples as compatible with that seen with smallpox, as reported by Kano Ikeda in 1925. The cases became the first laboratory confirmed cases of smallpox in the 1962 outbreak of smallpox in Bradford. The index case was shortly found to be a nine-year old girl who had died earlier of suspected
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 ...
. Over the next three days a further eight cases of smallpox were detected among four hospitals in Bradford and a convalescent hospital outside the city. Tovey was subsequently put in charge of infection control at St Luke's and given the responsibility of liaising with the medical officers of health and the press. For the next three weeks he would be confined to the hospital under quarantine, while his wife was pregnant with their second child. The outbreak ended the following month following a system of
contact tracing In public health, contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have been exposed to an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further data to assess transmission. By tracing the contacts of infected individua ...
,
surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...
and
vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
. In his account of the outbreak, published in 2004, he recalled:
This ‘success’ was due primarily to the fact that a small group of regional and local doctors, nurses and administrators had the authority and drive to introduce immediate measures to tackle the outbreak, to set in motion exhaustive tracing of contacts, and to initiate ring local mass vaccination.


Later career

From St Luke's he took up a post as consultant haematologist at Seacroft Children’s Hospital in Leeds. In 1966 he was appointed director of the Yorkshire Region Transfusion Centre, where he remained until 1988, and from 1980 to 1988 he was chairman of the anti-D working party Department of Health and Social Security. It was from Seacroft that he introduced the administration of anti-D immunoglobulin to prevent RhD isoimmunization in mothers who are RhD negative, to prevent Rh haemolytic disease in their newborns. In 1970, around one in 20 pregnant women were affected with the blood disease and approximately one in 1,000 babies died from the disease in England and Wales. By introducing anti-D prophylaxis, the number of deaths dropped to one by 1989. Tovey's data from the Yorkshire Regional Transfusion Centre reported the number of newborns affected by Rh disease was 267 in 1970, 103 in 1975, 84 in 1980, 52 in 1985, and 37 in 1989. The numbers of newborn deaths or stillbirths due to the disease was 66 in 1970, 14 in 1975, 7 in 1980, 2 in 1985 and 1 in 1989. He retired in his 60s and travelled to Adelaide, Australia, where he worked at
Women's and Children's Hospital The Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH) is a hospital dedicated to the care of women and children in Adelaide, South Australia. It was established in March 1989, when the Queen Victoria Hospital and Adelaide Children's Hospital were amalgamate ...
for six months.


Death

Tovey died on 16 November 2015. He and his wife Kay had two sons and one daughter.


Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tovey, Derrick 1926 births 2015 deaths Alumni of the University of Bristol Medical doctors from Bristol Fellows of the Royal College of Pathologists Fellows of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists English pathologists