Adolpho Lutz

See also: Lutz (homonymy)

Adolpho Lutz is a Médecin and a Naturaliste Brésil bond, born the December 18th 1855 with Rio de Janeiro and dead on October 6th, 1940 in this same city.

Its family is of origin Suisse. It is interested very early in the Natural history but decides, for practical reasons, to study with the Médecine. It leaves wax its studies to Bern and in other European universities. Graduate in 1880 in Bern, it returns to Brazil in 1881 and starts to exert in the small town of Limeira, in the State of São Paulo.

In 1887, it leaves to Hamburg, to work with Paul Gerson Unna (1850-1929), specialized on the tropical diseases. Its growing fame, it leaves to Hawaii there to study the Lèpre and to direct Kalihi Hospital of 1889 to 1892. He works some time in California and returns in São Paulo where he receives the direction of the bacteriological Institute (which will be, later, baptized in his honor Instituto Adolfo Lutz).

The town of Santos is then struck by an epidemic of Bubonic plague. Lutz then leaves to fight it, assisted by two young doctors, Vital Brazil (1865-1950) and Emílio Ribas (1862-1925), which will play a considerable part in the history of Brazilian medicine. Brazil and Lutz become friendly close relations. Lutz will support Brazil in its first research on the bites of Serpent S which will lead to the creation of the first research center only devoted to this subject, Instituto Butantan.

Lutz is the first South American researcher which is interested in the study of the Yellow fever and with the mechanisms of its transmission. He studies in particular the part played by Aedes aegypti like natural reserve and vector of the disease, role discovered a few years earlier by the American doctor Walter Reed (1851-1902). Lutz identification also the South American form of the Blastomycosis.

Lutz tries to prevent various diseases (like the Choléra, the Variole, the Typhoid fever, the Paludisme, the Ankylostomiase S, the Schistosomiase S and the Leishmaniose S whose transmission is facilitated by misery or ignorance concerning their mode of transmission.

After its departure with the retirement in 1908, it works for Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. In the zoological field, it makes appear several articles on the snakes (of 1922 - 1923) and on frogs (of 1924 with 1939). It will be interested all its life in frogs although he is the author only of few publications. It Co-sign the last which appear with his/her daughter, Berta Lutz (1894-1976), zoologist, feminist and political woman. This one will continue its herpetologic research after its death. His/her son, Gualter Adolpho Lutz (1903-1969), is professor of medicine to Rio de Janeiro and photographer naturalist.

Note

Random links: