Giuseppe Guarnieri (April 20, 1856 - August 15, 1918) was an Italian physician.
Dr. Guarnieri made his most famous discovery in
1892 while examining thin tissue cells damaged by smallpox. He discovered small bodies of protein clusters that he mistook for
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were am ...
, but were actually clusters of viral proteins crucial in the replication of
pox viruses. He named these protein masses ''Cytorrhyctes variolae'' ("the cell destroyer of smallpox")
but they were eventually properly identified and named
Guarnieri bodies.
References
1856 births
1918 deaths
19th-century Italian physicians
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