The Fight Against Tuberculosis in the Mid-nineteenth Century: The Pivotal Contribution of Edoardo Maragliano (1849–1940)

Abstract

The second half of the nineteenth century saw the development of new medical "specialties", which, like the idea of constitutional disease, had a profound influence on medical practice. Against this lively "backdrop", Edoardo Maragliano played a central role in medicine's "renaissance" in Italy. Having graduated in medicine in 1870 at the University of Naples, he worked as an assistant in the University Medical Clinic. After beginning his academic career as professor of pathology at the Faculty of Medicine in Genoa in 1877, he became full professor of internal medicine in 1881. While he studied all fields of internal medicine, his research focused mainly on tuberculosis.His experiments in the medical clinic enabled Maragliano to announce the possibility of immunization against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although criticized for using an inactivated vaccine, Maragliano continued to advocate vaccination with any type of vaccine.In the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy, Maragliano actively debated social, economic and sanitary questions, without neglecting his duties as a physician and professor. As an officer during the First World War, he organized military health services and taught medicine at the Military University of Padua.In 1924, Maragliano created the first Italian specialty school in the study of tuberculosis, which provided physicians with specific training in the diagnosis, therapy and prevention of the disease. His scientific zeal and his vision of modern medicine prompted the introduction of new specializations, such as radiology and, especially, pneumology, which led to the creation of one of Europe's most renowned medical schools.

Vittorio Maragliano (1878 −1944) in the history of European medicine: Grand master and pioneer of Italian radiology

“…Immediately after graduating, he became an assistant at the Medical Clinic, a post he held until 1903. 9 A few years later, in 1909, he qualified as a non-tenured lecturer in special medical pathology, having discussed a thesis on the influence of cold on diplococcal infection. He was then appointed director of the Department of Electrotherapy and Radiology and, in 1910, became a teacher of physical therapy 10 It should be pointed out that from 1906 to 1912 the university teaching of electrology, radiology and physical therapy did not have a precise orientation of its own.…”

The History of Tuberculosis: The Social Role of Sanatoria for the Treatment of Tuberculosis in Italy Between the End of the 19th Century and the Middle of the 20th

“…The pioneer of the fight against tuberculosis in Italy was Edoardo Maragliano, who, in 1896, founded the first Italian dispensary and the first ward for the diagnosis of TB in the Medical Clinic which he ran at the University of Genoa [ 14 ].…”

The never-ending story of the fight against tuberculosis: from Koch’s bacillus to global control programs

“…On 8 January 1908, a strain of tuberculosis bacillus isolated by Nocard was cultured on pieces of potato cooked in 5% glycerinated beef bile; after 230 successive cultures, Calmette and Guérin observed in 1920 that these bacilli were no longer able to infect guinea pigs or rabbits, even at high doses [ 41 ]. The strain was called Billié Calmette-Guérin, from which they were able to produce a non-virulent strain which they formulated into a live attenuated vaccine, later called Bacille Calmette-Guérin or BCG [ 42 ]. In 1921, BCG was first administered to humans by two French physicians, Benjamin Weille-Hallé and Raymond Turpin, at the Charité Hospital in Paris.…”