Wilbur Downs
Encyclopedia
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
and virologist. He was born 7 August 1913 in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and died in Branford
Branford
Branford can refer to:Places*Branford, Connecticut, a town in the United States*Branford, Florida, a town in the United States*Branford College, a residential college at Yale UniversityPeople*Branford Marsalis, jazz musician*Branford, Henrietta, author...
, Connecticut, 17 February 1991.
Career
Downs graduated from Cornell Medical College in medicine in 1938 after studying tropical parasitology with Pedro Kouri at the University of HavanaUniversity of Havana
The University of Havana or UH is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. Founded in 1728, the University of Havana is the oldest university in Cuba, and one of the first to be founded in the Americas...
, Cuba. He went to Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, B.W.I. in 1941 and studied malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
there until 1943 when he was inducted into the U.S. Army as a 1st Lieutenant. His epidemiological survey of malaria in Trinidad and Tobago in 1941-1943 is one of the classic works in the field.
Downs served as Malaria Control Officer in the New Hebrides
New Hebrides
New Hebrides was the colonial name for an island group in the South Pacific that now forms the nation of Vanuatu. The New Hebrides were colonized by both the British and French in the 18th century shortly after Captain James Cook visited the islands...
, Russell Islands
Russell Islands
The Russell Islands are two small islands, as well as several islets, of volcanic origin, in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. They are located approximately 48 km northwest from Guadalcanal. The islands are partially covered in coconut plantations, and have a copra and oil factory at...
and New Georgia
New Georgia
New Georgia is the largest island of the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.-Geography:This island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most of the other larger islands in the province...
. In 1944 he went to Bougainville
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
and in 1945 became Acting Chief of Preventive Medicine on Okinawa, as well as spending time in Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
. He was awarded the Bronze Star
Bronze Star Medal
The Bronze Star Medal is a United States Armed Forces individual military decoration that may be awarded for bravery, acts of merit, or meritorious service. As a medal it is awarded for merit, and with the "V" for valor device it is awarded for heroism. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the...
and Presidential and military citations for his work with malaria and communicable tropical diseases.
His interests were extremely wide-ranging and his curiosity insatiable. By the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he was one of the world's most experienced researchers in a wide range of tropical diseases including malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
, venereal diseases, dengue fever
Dengue fever
Dengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...
, leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, filariasis
Filariasis
Filariasis is a parasitic disease and is considered an infectious tropical disease, that is caused by thread-like nematodes belonging to the superfamily Filarioidea, also known as "filariae"....
, scrub typhus
Scrub typhus
Scrub typhus or Bush typhus is a form of typhus caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi first isolated and identified in 1930 in Japan., accessdate: 16 October 2011...
, leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, intestinal parasites, fungal infections, 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...
, and more.
Downs retired from the army in 1946 and was sent to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
by the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
to direct a malaria-control program from 1946-1952. While there, he set up an extensive public health and malaria investigation program, and was one of the first people to question the use of DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
and similar insecticides in the control of the disease. In 1952 the Rockefeller Foundation sent him back to Trinidad where he established the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory, now part of the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (Carec) in Port of Spain
Port of Spain
Port of Spain, also written as Port-of-Spain, is the capital of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the country's third-largest municipality, after San Fernando and Chaguanas. The city has a municipal population of 49,031 , a metropolitan population of 128,026 and a transient daily population...
. This laboratory became a renowned centre of excellence attracting top researchers and providing excellent training for young Trinidadians in a wide range of skills. While he was in charge some 35 viruses were isolated, many of them new to science, and information on the etiology and transmission of numerous virus diseases, including a major epidemic of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
, were meticulously studied and recorded.
Downs kept close contact with William Beebe
William Beebe
William Beebe, born Charles William Beebe was an American naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author...
who, at the time, was the Director of the New York Zoological Society's Tropical Research Centre at Simla in Trinidad and helped coordinate the activities of both organisations and sharing resources. He had a real interest in and supported research in many fields including entomology, ornithology, mammology, archaeology, epideomology, and ecology.
In 1961 he became Associate Director of the Medical and Natural Sciences Division in charge of the Rockefeller Foundation's arbovirus
Arbovirus
Arbovirus is a term used to refer to a group of viruses that are transmitted by arthropod vectors. The word arbovirus is an acronym . Some arboviruses are able to cause emergent disease.-Transmission:...
programme. From 1963 to 1971 he became Director of the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit and Professor of Epidemiology. In 1969 he worked on isolating the virus of Lassa fever
Lassa fever
Lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic fever caused by the Lassa virus and first described in 1969 in the town of Lassa, in Borno State, Nigeria, in the Yedseram river valley at the south end of Lake Chad. Clinical cases of the disease had been known for over a decade but had not been connected...
with Jordi Casals-Ariet and Sonja Buckley. He resigned from the Rockefeller Foundation in 1971 but continued at Yale as a lecturer. In 1973 he was appointed Clinical Professor of Epidemiology.
He was the author or co-author of over 150 scientific articles and a landmark reference work with Max Theiler, The Arthropod-Borne Viruses of Vertebrates.
Private life
Downs was an avid reader with a huge private library including works in Spanish, French, German and Russian. He had a large collection of tropical orchids and performed a number of hybidization experiments. A hybrid genus of orchids, Downsara, was named after him. He was a keen fisherman and expert marksman (once a member of the National Rifle TeamNational Rifle Team
A National Rifle Team is a traveling competitive marksmanship team from a country. Several countries field a national rifle team, such as Belgium, Canada, Cina, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States....
of Trinidad & Tobago), an accomplished photographer, stamp collector, guitarist and bookbinder. Downs was preceded in death by his first wife Helen Hartley Geer Downs, called "Babbie" by her friends, and by their youngest daughter Martha. He was survived by his second wife Dorothy Gardner Downs Downs and their two sons and four daughters. Downs' grandson Greg Downs
Greg Downs
For information about the former footballer, see Greg Downs Greg Downs is the author of the Flannery O'Connor Award-winning short story collection, Spit Baths published in 2006 by the University of Georgia Press and of the history book published in 2011 by the University of North Carolina Press...
is an author and historian.
Selected works
- Theiler, Max and Downs, W. G. The Arthropod-Borne Viruses of Vertebrates: An Account of the Rockefeller Foundation Virus Program, 1951-1970. Yale University Press, 1973.
- Downs, Wilbur. Editor and Contributor. "Virus Diseases in the West Indies." Special Edition of the Caribbean Medical Journal, Vol. XXVI, Nos. 1-4, 1965.