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Victor Babeş (July 4 1854, Vienna–October 19, 1926) was a Romanian biologist and one of the earliest bacteriologists. Babes is one of the founders of modern science of microbiology. He has made early and very significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases.
Born in a Romanian family from the Banat, he studied in Budapest, then in Vienna, where he received his doctorate in Science. Attracted by the discoveries of Pasteur, he leaves for Paris, and works at first in his laboratory, and then with A. V. Cornil.
In 1885 he discovered a parasitic sporozoan of the ticks that was named Babesia (of the genus Babesiidae) after him, and which causes a rare and severe disease called babesiosis.
In the same year, he publishes the first treaty of bacteriology in the world, "Bacteria and their role in the histopathology of infectious diseases", which he co-authored with A.V.Cornil.
His scientific endeavours were wide-ranging. He was the first to demonstrate the presence of tuberculous bacilli in the urine of infected patients. He also discovers cellular inclusions in rabies-infected nerve cells. These have diagnostic value, and will be named after him (Babes-Negri bodies).
He was one of the founders of serum therapy, and was the first to introduce antirabic vaccination in Romania.
His work also had a strong influence upon veterinary medicine, especially concerning prophylaxis and serum therapy.
He became a professor of Pathology and Bacteriology at the University of Medicine in Bucharest. He also became a member of the Romanian Academy (in 1893), of the Paris Académie de Médicine and an officer of the French Légion d'honneur.
His nephew, Aurel Babes, was also a physician, and discovered a screening test for cervical cancer. This was later popularized by Dr. Papanicolau in the United States and became known as the "Pap smear".
Eponyms
- Babes-Ernst bodies : metachromatic inclusions in the cytoplasm of gram-positive bacteria, e. g. diphthteria
- Babes-Negri bodies: inclusions in rabies-infected nervous cells
- Babesia: parasites of the genus Hemosporidiae
Scientific publications (selected)
- Über Poliomyelitis anterior. 1877.
- Ueber die selbständige combinirte Seiten- und Hinterstrangsclerose des Rückenmarks. * Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin, 1876.
- Ueber einen im menschlichen Peritoneum gefundenen Nematoden. * Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin, volume LXXXI.
- Studien über Safraninfärbung. 1881.
- Bakterien des rothen Schweisses. 1881
- Eine experimentelle Studie über den Einfluss des Nervensystems auf die pathologischen Veränderungen der Haut. With Arthur von Irsay (1855-1918). Vierteljahresschrift für Dermatologie.
- Les bactéries et leur rôle dans l’anatomie et l’histologie pathologiques des maladies infectieuses. Written with André Victor Cornil (1837-1908). 1 volume and Atlas. Paris, F. Alcan, 1885.
- Über isoliert färbbare Antheile von Bakterien. Zeitschrift für Hygiene, Leipzig, 1889, 5: 173-190.
- Observations sur la morve. Archives de médecine experimentale et d’anatomie pathologique, 1891, 3: 619-645.
- Atlas der pathologischen Histologie des Nervensystems. Published with Georges Marinesco (1864-1938) and Paul Oscar Blocq (1860-1896). Berlin, Hirschwald, 1892.
- Untersuchungen über Koch's Kommabacillus. * Archiv für pathologische Anatomie und Physiologie und für klinische Medicin, Berlin.
- Untersuchungen über den Leprabazillus und über die Histologie der Lepra. Berlin, 1898.
- Beobachtungen über Riesenzellen. Stuttgart, 1905.
- Über die Notwendigkeit der AbVerfahrens der Wutbehandlungänderung des Pasteur'schen .
1854 births | 1926 deaths | Légion d'honneur recipients | Romanian Academy | Romanian scientists | Parasitologists
"Victor Babeş"