A comparative approach to the French medical missions in Brazil and in sub-Saharan Africa before the Second World War.
Franco-Brazilian cooperation in the field of microbiology and tropical diseases dates back to the onset of those disciplines. Physicians were sent over by France, namely Marchoux, Simond and Salimbeni from 1901 to 1905 to study yellow fever, and Emile Brumpt from 1913 to 1914 to teach parasitology. These missions brought in some important results. After confirming that the yellow fever agent was a filterable virus and that Stegomya (Aedes) its only vector, Simond and Marchoux clarified the biology of the mosquito and showed that sexual transmission of the virus could occur. They also set up different measures for the control of yellow fever outbreaks which Oswaldo Cruz was inspired by for his campaign against yellow fever. Emile Brumpt implemented the teaching of parasitology at the Faculty of Medicine in São Paulo and contributed to human American trypanosomiasis by defining the transmission of the disease and the cycle of the parasite responsible for it. He also developed the technique known as xenodiagnosis. Simond and Marchoux's works on yellow fever found an immediate application in French colonies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the fight against large African endemics such as sleeping sickness, the other human trypanosomiases, could not have been carried out successfully without the contribution of mobile teams following Eugène Jamot's initiative in addition to the permanent centres which characterized the French colonial system.
Pays
J F
JF
Faculté de Médecine Necker, Centre médical, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. pays@necker.fr
Saliou
P
P
D000047:Academies and Institutes / Q000266:history; D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology; D017954:Africa South of the Sahara; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D005602:France; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000821:virology; D008493:Medical Missions / Q000266:history*; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000266:history; D014330:Tropical Medicine / Q000266:history*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000266:history / Q000517:prevention & control; D015004:Yellow Fever / Q000266:history* / Q000517:prevention & control