Aurel Babes
Encyclopedia
Aurel Babeş was a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n scientist and one of the discoverers of the vaginal smear
Pap smear
The Papanicolaou test is a screening test used in to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous processes in the endocervical canal of the female reproductive system. Changes can be treated, thus preventing cervical cancer...

 as screening test for cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...

. He was the nephew of Victor Babeş
Victor Babes
Victor Babeș was a Romanian physician, biologist, and one of the earliest bacteriologists. He made early and significant contributions to the study of rabies, leprosy, diphtheria, tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases....

, co-author (with Cornil) of the first treaty of bacteriology.

Aurel Babeş was born in 1886, in Romania. His father, also named Aurel, was a chemistry professor. Aurel Babeş married fellow gynecologist Lucia Serbanescu in 1930. They adopted a daughter, who became an acclaimed opera singer. Babes was 74 years old when he died in Bucharest in 1961.

It is said that Aurel Babeş was very aware of the great international reputation that Georges Papanikolaou had gained in contrast to his own. In a spirit of recognition and fairness, Romania refers to cervical testing as "Methode Babeş-Papanicolaou" in honor of Dr. Babeş.

Scientific discoveries

Although Georgios Papanikolaou
Georgios Papanikolaou
Georgios Nicholas Papanikolaou was a Greek pioneer in cytology and early cancer detection, and inventor of the "Pap smear".-Life:...

 is generally credited for the invention of the cervical cancer screening test by cervical cytology, O'Dowd and Philipp believe that Dr. Aurel Babeş, of Romania, was the true pioneer in the cytologic diagnosis of cervical cancer. He discovered that if a platinum loop was used to collect cells from a woman's cervix, and the cells were then dried on a slide and stained, it could be determined if cancer cells were present. This was the first screening test to diagnose cervical and uterine cancer. Babeş presented his findings to the Romanian Society of Gynaecology in Bucharest on 23 January 1927. His method of cancer diagnosis was published in a French medical journal, Presse Médicale on 11 April 1928. Babeş's 1927 work, however, was published in the Proceedings of the Bucharest Gynecological Society in French, and it is unlikely that Papanicolaou was aware of it. Moreover, the two techniques are completely different in their design and concept. This breakthrough in cervical cancer diagnosis and has saved the lives of over 6 million women.

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