Mefodiy Romanowski. Biological and medical researcher 1868-1911. An episode in the fight against tuberculosis.
Mefodiy Romanowski, a country doctor in tsarist Ukraine, developed a perspicacious interest in cell biology as a basic requirement for the study of physiology and pathology. He went on to characterize tuberculosis as a disease whose pathogens disrupted the phospho-proteins of the cell nucleus. This led to his concocting a melange of acidic phosphorus compounds, under the trade name Phosphacid, as a remedy (to be injected subcutaneously). He and others claimed a measure of success for the treatment; it was approved by the Russian Council of Physicians; and despite revolution and war it enjoyed esteem in Eastern Europe for over three decades after Romanowski's early death in 1911. Its last known manufactory, in Warsaw, was destroyed during the 1944 Uprising.
D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000266:history*; D014455:Ukraine