Pierre Paul Émile Roux
Encyclopedia
Pierre Paul Émile Roux FRS
(December 17, 1853, Confolens
, Charente
– November 3, 1933, Paris
) was a French physician
, bacteriologist and immunologist who was one of the closest collaborators of Louis Pasteur
(1822-1895), a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute
and discoverer of the anti-diphtheria
serum
, the first effective therapy for this disease.
Roux got his baccalaureate
in sciences in 1871 and started his studies in 1872 at the Medical School of Clermont-Ferrand. He worked initially as a student assistant in Chemistry
at the Faculty of Sciences, under Émile Duclaux
. From 1874 to 1878 he continued his studies in Paris and was admitted as clinical assistant at Hôtel-Dieu
. Between 1874 and 1877 Roux received a fellowship for the Military School at Val-de-Grâce
, but quit it after failing to present his dissertation in due time. In 1878 he started to work as an assistant to the course on fermentation given by his patron Duclaux at the Sorbonne University and was recommended by him to Louis Pasteur, who was looking for assistants. He was accepted and joined Pasteur’s laboratory as a research assistant from 1878 to 1883 at the École Normale Supérieure
in Paris, engaging his research on the microbiological causation of diseases. In this capacity, he works with Pasteur in avian cholera (1879-1880) and anthrax
(1879-1890) and was involved in the famous experiment of anthrax vaccination
of animals at Pouilly-le-Fort. In 1883, he presented a doctoral dissertation in medicine titled Des Nouvelles Acquisitions sur la Rage, where he describes his research on rabies
with Pasteur since 1881, which led to the development of the first vaccination against this fearsome disease. Roux was now recognized as an expert in the nascent sciences of medical microbiology and immunology. With other Pasteur’s assistants (Edmond Nocard
, Louis Thuillier
and Straus) Roux traveled in 1883 to Egypt
to study a human cholera
outbreak there, but they were unable to find the pathogen
for the disease, which was later discovered in Alexandria
by the German
physician Robert Koch
(1843-1910).
In 1883 and in the following 40 years, Émile Roux became closely involved with the creation of what was to be the Pasteur Institute
, and shared his time between biomedical research and administrative duties. In 1888, an important year in his life career, he accepted the position of Director of Services, joined the Editorial Board of the Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, and established the first regular course on microbiological technique, which would become extremely influential in the training of many important French and foreign researchers and physicians in infectious diseases. In the same year, he published with Alexandre Yersin
(1863-1943) the first of his classical works on the causation of diphtheria
by the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, then an extremely prevalent and lethal disease, particularly among children. He studied its toxin and its properties, and began in 1891 to develop an effective serum to treat the disease, following the demonstration, by Emil Adolf von Behring
(1854-1917) and Kitasato Shibasaburō
(1852-1931) that antibodies against the diphtheric toxin could be produced in animals. He demonstrated successfully this antitoxin with Auguste Chaillou
, in a study with 300 diseased children in the Hôpital des Enfantes-Malades and was henceforth hailed as a scientific hero in medical congresses throughout Europe.
In the following years, Roux dedicated himself indefatigably to many investigations on the microbiology and practical immunology of tetanus
, tuberculosis
, syphilis
, and pneumonia
. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
in 1900. In 1904 he was nominated to the Pasteur’s former position as General Director of the Pasteur Institute. In 1916 he moved to a small apartment in the Pasteur Hospital, where he died on November 3, 1933.
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(December 17, 1853, Confolens
Confolens
Confolens is a commune in southwestern France. It is one of the two sub-prefecture of the Charente department.Confolens is the administrative center of a largely rural district, which has seen the development of tourism in recent years.-Geography:...
, Charente
Charente
Charente is a department in southwestern France, in the Poitou-Charentes region, named after the Charente River, the most important river in the department, and also the river beside which the department's two largest towns, Angoulême and Cognac, are sited.-History:Charente is one of the original...
– November 3, 1933, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a French physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, bacteriologist and immunologist who was one of the closest collaborators of Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist born in Dole. He is remembered for his remarkable breakthroughs in the causes and preventions of diseases. His discoveries reduced mortality from puerperal fever, and he created the first vaccine for rabies and anthrax. His experiments...
(1822-1895), a co-founder of the Pasteur Institute
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
and discoverer of the anti-diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
serum
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
, the first effective therapy for this disease.
Roux got his baccalaureate
European Baccalaureate
The European Baccalaureate is awarded to students who successfully managed to complete the final year exam at a European School. These are mainly attended by students whose parents work for a European Institution. There are currently 14 European Schools.This diploma should not be confused with...
in sciences in 1871 and started his studies in 1872 at the Medical School of Clermont-Ferrand. He worked initially as a student assistant in Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at the Faculty of Sciences, under Émile Duclaux
Émile Duclaux
Émile Duclaux was a French microbiologist and chemist who was born in Aurillac, Cantal.He studied at the College of Aurillac, the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris and at École Normale Supérieure. In 1862 he was an assistant in the laboratory of Louis Pasteur...
. From 1874 to 1878 he continued his studies in Paris and was admitted as clinical assistant at Hôtel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu
Hôtel-Dieu is the old name given to the principal hospital in French towns, for instance:*The Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon, created in 1478...
. Between 1874 and 1877 Roux received a fellowship for the Military School at Val-de-Grâce
Val-de-Grâce
This article describes the hospital and former abbey. For the main article on Mansart and Lemercier's central church, see Church of the Val-de-Grâce....
, but quit it after failing to present his dissertation in due time. In 1878 he started to work as an assistant to the course on fermentation given by his patron Duclaux at the Sorbonne University and was recommended by him to Louis Pasteur, who was looking for assistants. He was accepted and joined Pasteur’s laboratory as a research assistant from 1878 to 1883 at the École Normale Supérieure
École Normale Supérieure
The École normale supérieure is one of the most prestigious French grandes écoles...
in Paris, engaging his research on the microbiological causation of diseases. In this capacity, he works with Pasteur in avian cholera (1879-1880) and anthrax
Anthrax
Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Most forms of the disease are lethal, and it affects both humans and other animals...
(1879-1890) and was involved in the famous experiment of anthrax vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
of animals at Pouilly-le-Fort. In 1883, he presented a doctoral dissertation in medicine titled Des Nouvelles Acquisitions sur la Rage, where he describes his research on rabies
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
with Pasteur since 1881, which led to the development of the first vaccination against this fearsome disease. Roux was now recognized as an expert in the nascent sciences of medical microbiology and immunology. With other Pasteur’s assistants (Edmond Nocard
Edmond Nocard
Edmond Isidore Etienne Nocard , was a French veterinarian and microbiologist, born in Provins ....
, Louis Thuillier
Louis Thuillier
Louis Thuillier was a French biologist from Amiens. He studied biology and physics in Amiens and Paris, and in 1880 went to work as an assistant in the laboratory of Louis Pasteur....
and Straus) Roux traveled in 1883 to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
to study a human cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
outbreak there, but they were unable to find the pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
for the disease, which was later discovered in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
by the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
physician Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
(1843-1910).
In 1883 and in the following 40 years, Émile Roux became closely involved with the creation of what was to be the Pasteur Institute
Pasteur Institute
The Pasteur Institute is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who made some of the greatest breakthroughs in modern medicine at the time, including pasteurization and vaccines for anthrax...
, and shared his time between biomedical research and administrative duties. In 1888, an important year in his life career, he accepted the position of Director of Services, joined the Editorial Board of the Annales de l’Institut Pasteur, and established the first regular course on microbiological technique, which would become extremely influential in the training of many important French and foreign researchers and physicians in infectious diseases. In the same year, he published with Alexandre Yersin
Alexandre Yersin
Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin was a Swiss and French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later re-named in his honour .Yersin was born in 1863 in Aubonne, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, to a family...
(1863-1943) the first of his classical works on the causation of diphtheria
Diphtheria
Diphtheria is an upper respiratory tract illness caused by Corynebacterium diphtheriae, a facultative anaerobic, Gram-positive bacterium. It is characterized by sore throat, low fever, and an adherent membrane on the tonsils, pharynx, and/or nasal cavity...
by the Klebs-Loeffler bacillus, then an extremely prevalent and lethal disease, particularly among children. He studied its toxin and its properties, and began in 1891 to develop an effective serum to treat the disease, following the demonstration, by Emil Adolf von Behring
Emil Adolf von Behring
Emil Adolf von Behring was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one so awarded.-Biography:...
(1854-1917) and Kitasato Shibasaburō
Kitasato Shibasaburō
Baron was a Japanese physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the infectious agent of bubonic plague in Hong Kong in 1894, almost simultaneously with Alexandre Yersin.-Biography:...
(1852-1931) that antibodies against the diphtheric toxin could be produced in animals. He demonstrated successfully this antitoxin with Auguste Chaillou
Auguste Chaillou
Auguste Chaillou was a French biologist and physician born in Parennes in the department of Sarthe. He worked at the Hôpital des Enfants-Malades, and for most of his career was associated with the Pasteur Institute in Paris.Chaillou is best-known for his development of the anti-diphtheria serum...
, in a study with 300 diseased children in the Hôpital des Enfantes-Malades and was henceforth hailed as a scientific hero in medical congresses throughout Europe.
In the following years, Roux dedicated himself indefatigably to many investigations on the microbiology and practical immunology of tetanus
Tetanus
Tetanus is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, rod-shaped, obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani...
, tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, syphilis
Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
, and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Academy is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization which acts to promote the sciences, primarily the natural sciences and mathematics.The Academy was founded on 2...
in 1900. In 1904 he was nominated to the Pasteur’s former position as General Director of the Pasteur Institute. In 1916 he moved to a small apartment in the Pasteur Hospital, where he died on November 3, 1933.
External links
- English biography of Pierre Paul Émile Roux. Pasteur Brewing
- Pierre Paul Émile Roux. Biographie. Institut Pasteur, Paris.
- Bibliography of P.P.E. Roux. Pasteur Institute.