| Date | 1853 |
| Author | Auzias-Turenne |
| Contribution | Advocated vaccination against syphilis, and stressed variation in microbial virulence. |
| Reference | Williams |
| Notes | Physician Joseph-Alexandre Auzias-Turenne. Date is provisional. Check in Burke references in Geison. According to Greer Williams, Auzias-Turenne was a vocal participant in medical discussions and may have influenced Pasteur's vaccine work. He advocated inoculating French youth with syphilis (soft chancre, or chancroid; Hemophilus ducreyi) to protect against syphilis (hard chancre; Treponema) and that this was done "a half century after Jenner's death." If taken literally this means 1853. Auzias-Turenne was going on the incorrect assumption that soft chancre was attenuated form of syphilis. His work was published posthumously in 1878, and Pasteur is known to have had a copy in his desk. Waller suggests that the importance of this contribution was promotion of the concept of natural variation in microbe virulence and host susceptibility. See same author entry for 1859. |
| Category | Immunology |
| Pathogen Class | Bacteria |
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