Edoardo Perroncito

Edoardo Perroncito

Edoardo Bellarmino Perroncito (10 March 1847, Viale in the Province of Asti – 4 November 1936) was an Italian parasitologist. He was the father of pathologist Aldo Perroncito (1882–1929).

He earned his degree in veterinary medicine, and in 1879 he became a professor of parasitology to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Turin.[1]

Remembered for his extensive research of Ancylostoma duodenale (hookworm), in 1880 he determined that hookworm was the cause of anemia being suffered by workmen building the St. Gotthard railway tunnel.[2][3] He was the first to recommend using an extract of the Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas) as a remedy for the disease.[4][5] In 1878 he identified the highly contagious disease of domestic fowl  which is considered to be the first historical record of avian influenza (initially known as a fowl plague).[6][7]

Selected writings

• L'anemia dei contadini, fornaciai e minatori in rapporto coll'attuale epidemia negli operai del Gottardo. Studi ed osservazioni, profilassi e cura, 1881 - The anemia of farmers, miners and kiln workers in relation to the epidemic of the St. Gotthard workers. Study and observation, prevention and remedy.
• La Tubercolosi dei bovini in rapporto alla tubercolosi umana, 1903 - Tuberculosis in cattle in relation to human tuberculosis.
• La malattia dei minatori, dal S. Gottardo al Sempione, una questione risolta, 1909 - The disease of miners, St. Gotthard to Simplon, a settled issue.[8]

References

1. Statement based on a translation from an equivalent article at the Italian Wikipedia
2. Antimicrobial Drugs: Chronicle of a twentieth century medical triumph by David Greenwood
3. Stanford.edu Hookworm: Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus
4. Who Goes First?: The Story of Self-Experimentation in Medicine by Lawrence K. Altman
5. Treccani.it (biographical information)
6. Alexander, D. J.; Brown, I. H. (April 2009). "History of highly pathogenic avian influenza". Revue Scientifique et Technique (International Office of Epizootics). 28 (1): 19–38. doi:10.20506/rst.28.1.1856. ISSN 0253-1933. PMID 19618616.
7. Tan, HK; Chew, N; Chew, KT; Peh, WC (October 2014). "Clinics in diagnostic imaging (156)". Singapore Medical Journal. 55 (10): 517–521. doi:10.11622/smedj.2014133. ISSN 0037-5675. PMC 4293960. PMID 25631891.
8. WorldCat Titles (publications)
9. International Plant Names Index.  Perronc.

External links

• Science Photo Library (photograph of Perroncito).