Ernest Duchesne

Ernest Duchesne (* May 30, 1874 in Paris, France, † April 12, 1912 in Amelie- les- Bains- Palalda ) was a French military doctor and regarded as the first discoverer of the antimicrobial activity of molds.

Life

In 1894, Duchesne entered the Military Academy of Lyon ( Ecole du Service de Santé Militaire de Lyon). Duchesne took a year's internship in Val -de- Grâce, before he was appointed medical Major Second Class of the 2nd Hussars of Senlis wurde.1901 he married a native of Cannes Pink Lassalas. His wife, however, died two years later of tuberculosis. 1904, ill also Duchesne even pulmonary distress, probably also tuberculosis. Three years later he was discharged from the army and sent to a sanatorium in Amélie- les- Bains. He died there on April 12, 1912 at the age of 37 years. He is buried beside his wife in the cemetery Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes.

Scientific work

Duchesne has already made thirty years before Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, the observation that certain molds on antibiotic - have properties - ie bactericidal.

In his research, he helped the observation that the employees working in the military hospital Arab grooms kept the saddles for the horses in a dark, damp room to encourage the formation of molds. On Duchesnes question why they did, answered the groom, this would the wounds that would be incurred by the chafing of the saddle, heal faster. Then Duchesne prepared to a solution of these molds and injected it several diseased guinea pigs. As it turned out, all the animals recovered after verabfolgter injection.

Then Duchesne studied the interaction between Escherichia coli and Penicillium glaucum in a series of meticulously performed experiments. It was found that, in a culture containing only these two species, the fungus was able to eliminate the bacterium. Furthermore, it was found that an experimental animal that was inoculated with a typhoid bacillus in a normally lethal dose, no signs of disease showed, so therefore was completely healthy - if it had been also previously inoculated with Penicillium glaucum ( in this respect, the results differ of Duchesne so from the results of Fleming from: discovered by Fleming strain Penicillium notatum showed no effects in typhoid ).

His doctoral thesis, entitled "Contribution à l' étude de la concurrence vitale chez les micro - organismes: antagonisme entre les moisissures et les microbes " ( " Studies on the survival of micro-organisms: The antagonism of mold and microbes " ), which he in 1897 submitted for obtaining the doctorate, was the first scientific work, which dealt with the possibilities of a therapeutic use of molds due to its antimicrobial properties. At that time, the Institute Pasteur rejected the thesis that had been filed by the then completely unknown and just 23 -year-olds from. Although Duchesne urged more research, but the military service prevented him to develop further activities in this field.

Honor

In 1949, five years after Alexander Fleming received the Nobel Prize, also Duchesne by the French Académie de Médecine national was honored posthumously for his contributions to the field of microbiology.