Evandro Serafim Lobo Chagas (August 10, 1905 – November 8, 1940) the eldest son of Carlos Chagas (1879-1934), noted physician and scientist who discovered

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 ...

, and brother of

Carlos Chagas Filho Carlos Chagas Filho (September 10, 1910 – February 16, 2000) was a Brazilian physician, biologist and scientist active in the field of neuroscience. He was internationally renowned for his investigations on the neural mechanisms underlying ...

(1910-2000), also a noted physician and scientist who was president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. In 1926 Evandro Chagas got diploma from the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro and made residence at Hospital São Francisco de Assis and at Hospital Oswaldo Cruz. At the same time, he attended the specialization course in microbiology at the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. In 1930 he became professor at Clinical Infectious and Tropical Diseases (in Portuguese: Clínica de Doenças Tropicais e Infecciosas) at the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro, whose discipline was taught by his father, Carlos Chagas. To fill the vacancy, he defended as a thesis the cardiac form of American trypanosomiasis. Being one of the pioneers in the use of

electrocardiography Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity through repeated cardiac cycles. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of t ...

has made significant contributions on Chagas disease. He conducted studies on Yellow Fever,

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 ...

Hookworm Hookworms are Gastrointestinal tract, intestinal, Hematophagy, blood-feeding, parasitic Nematode, roundworms that cause types of infection known as helminthiases. Hookworm infection is found in many parts of the world, and is common in areas with ...

, and especially about the

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 ...

, discovering the first human cases of the disease and conducting clinical and epidemiological investigations in several states in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In 1931 he held the position of Human Pathology Section (in Portuguese: Seção de Patologia Humana) of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz and, in 1935, represented the institution at the Ninth Meeting of the Argentine Society of Pathology North Regional, held in the city of Mendoza to honor the memory of Carlos Chagas, newly deceased. Upon returning from Argentina, he organized the service of Endemic Diseases Study, to coordinate a plan of medical and health research in several Brazilian states, promoting important research, especially on Malaria, Leishmaniasis and Chagas Disease. He also created, in 1936, the Institute of Experimental Pathology of North (in Portuguese: Instituto de Patologia Experimental do Norte), located in

Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...

Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...

state,

it operated as a subsidiary of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz; later it would bear his name, Instituto Evandro Chagas (today one of the best known institutes on tropical medicine and virology in the world). Evandro Chagas died in an air crash in Rio de Janeiro on November 8, 1940, aged 35.

References

1905 births 1940 deaths Brazilian tropical physicians Chagas disease 20th-century Brazilian physicians Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in Brazil Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1940 {{Brazil-scientist-stub