Letter from Louise Pearce to Michael Heidelberger
- Contributor(s):
- Pearce, Louise Heidelberger, Michael
- Publication:
- Produced: 17 July 1920
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Trypanosomiasis, African
- Genre(s):
- Archival Materials Letters (correspondence)
- Abstract:
- In 1919, Heidelberger and Walter A. Jacobs synthesized a variant of the aromatic arsenical Salvarsan, Paul Ehrlich's "magic bullet" for syphilis, which proved effective against trypanosomes, the parasites that cause African sleeping sickness. They called it tryparsamide. Louise Pearce conducted the successful (and to her own health, risky) human field trials of tryparsamide in the Belgian Congo, a colonial region of Africa in which the disease was endemic. In this letter she described her voyage to Africa, the conventional treatment for the disease administered in the local hospital in Leopoldville (today Kinshasa), and Pearce's efforts to enlist sick patients for the trial.
- Copyright:
- This item may be under copyright protection; contact the copyright owner for permission before re-use.
- Extent:
- 2 pages
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101584940X217 (See in Profiles in Science)
- Profiles in Science ID:
- DHBBNQ
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X217
- Archival Collection:
- The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)