Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer
Encyclopedia
Richard Friedrich Johannes Pfeiffer (March 27, 1858 – September 15, 1945) was a German
physician
and bacteriologist.
Pfeiffer was born in Zduny
, Province of Posen
, and died in Bad Landeck
.
Pfeiffer is remembered for his many fundamental discoveries in immunology
and bacteriology
, particularly for the phenomenon of bacteriolysis. In 1894 he found that live cholera
bacteria
could be injected without ill effects into guinea pigs previously immunised against cholera
, and that blood plasma
from these animals added to live cholera
bacteria
caused them to become motionless and to lyse. This could be inhibited by previously heating the blood plasma
. He called this bacteriolysis and it became known as the Pfeiffer Phenomenon, or Isayev-Pfeiffer phenomenon.
Working with Robert Koch
in Berlin he intellectually and experimentally conceived the concept of endotoxin
as a heat-stable bacterial poison responsible for the pathophysiological
consequences of certain infectious diseases. Endotoxin
and anti-endotoxin antibodies have since then fascinated researchers of many disciplines, particularly in the fields of diagnosis, prevention, and therapy of severe Gram-negative
infections.
Pfeiffer was a pioneer in typhoid vaccination
. He discovered the specific bacteria-dissolving immune bodies in cholera and typhus. The British pathologist Almroth Wright
is generally credited with the initiation of typhoid vaccination
in 1896. His claims of priority were challenged as early as 1907 in favour of Richard Pfeiffer. A review of the original literature of the 1890s and the early 1900s revealed that several groups were working on typhoid vaccine
at the same time and that the credit for the initiation of typhoid vaccine
studies should be shared by these two great researchers.
In 1892 he isolated what he thought was the causative agent of influenza
. The culprit, according to Pfeiffer, was a small rod-shaped bacterium that he isolated from the noses of flu-infected patients . He dubbed it Bacillus influenzae (or Pfeiffer's bacillus), which was later called Haemophilus influenzae
. Few doubted the validity of this discovery, in large part because bacteria had been shown to cause other human diseases, including anthrax, cholera, and plague.
When history's deadliest influenza pandemic began in 1918, most scientists believed that Pfeiffer's bacillus caused influenza. With the lethality of this outbreak (which killed an estimated 20 to 100 million worldwide) came urgency—researchers around the world began to search for Pfeiffer's bacillus in patients, hoping to develop antisera and vaccines that would protect against infection. In many patients, but not all, the bacteria were found. Failures to isolate B. influenzae (now known as Haemophilus influenzae) were largely chalked up to inadequate technique, as the bacteria were notoriously difficult to culture.
The first blow to Pfeiffer's theory came from Peter Olitsky and Frederick Gates at The Rockefeller Institute
. Olitsky and Gates took nasal secretions from patients infected with the 1918 flu and passed them through Berkefeld filters, which exclude bacteria
. The infectious agent — which caused lung disease in rabbits — passed through the filter, suggesting that it was not a bacterium.
Although the duo had perhaps isolated the influenza
virus
(which they nevertheless referred to as an atypical bacterium called Bacterium pneumosintes), other researchers could not reproduce their results.
In 1896 he isolated micrococcus catarrhalis that is the cause of laryngitis
. M catarrhalis also causes bronchitis
, and pneumonia
in children and adults with underlying chronic lung disease. It is occasionally a cause of meningitis
.
Richard Pfeiffer also invented a universal staining for histological preparations.
Pfeiffer studied at the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Akademie in Berlin
from 1875 to 1879. After completing his studies he was conferred doctor of medicine in 1880 and subsequently served as an army physician and bacteriologist until 1889. He was a student of Robert Koch
(1843–1910), and from 1887 to 1891 worked as Koch's assistant in the Institute of Hygiene in Berlin. In 1891 he was entrusted with the leadership of the scientific department of the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin.
In 1897 Pfeiffer joined the German expedition under Robert Koch
to India to investigate the plague
. The following year he went to Italy with Koch to do research on Malaria
. He moved to Königsberg
to enter the chair of hygiene in 1899, succeeding Erwin von Esmarch (1855–1915). He remained in that city until 1909, when he moved on to the same chair in Breslau. Pfeiffer retired there as emeritus in 1925.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and bacteriologist.
Pfeiffer was born in Zduny
Zduny
Zduny is a town in Krotoszyn County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,529 inhabitants .-External links:*...
, Province of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
, and died in Bad Landeck
Ladek-Zdrój
Lądek-Zdrój is a town in Kłodzko County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Lądek-Zdrój, close to the Czech border....
.
Pfeiffer is remembered for his many fundamental discoveries in immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
and bacteriology
Bacteriology
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria. This subdivision of microbiology involves the identification, classification, and characterization of bacterial species...
, particularly for the phenomenon of bacteriolysis. In 1894 he found that live cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
could be injected without ill effects into guinea pigs previously immunised against cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
, and that blood plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
from these animals added to live cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
caused them to become motionless and to lyse. This could be inhibited by previously heating the blood plasma
Blood plasma
Blood plasma is the straw-colored liquid component of blood in which the blood cells in whole blood are normally suspended. It makes up about 55% of the total blood volume. It is the intravascular fluid part of extracellular fluid...
. He called this bacteriolysis and it became known as the Pfeiffer Phenomenon, or Isayev-Pfeiffer phenomenon.
Working with Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
in Berlin he intellectually and experimentally conceived the concept of endotoxin
Endotoxin
Endotoxins are toxins associated with some Gram-negative bacteria. An "endotoxin" is a toxin that is a structural molecule of the bacteria that is recognized by the immune system.-Gram negative:...
as a heat-stable bacterial poison responsible for the pathophysiological
Pathophysiology
Pathophysiology is the study of the changes of normal mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions, either caused by a disease, or resulting from an abnormal syndrome...
consequences of certain infectious diseases. Endotoxin
Endotoxin
Endotoxins are toxins associated with some Gram-negative bacteria. An "endotoxin" is a toxin that is a structural molecule of the bacteria that is recognized by the immune system.-Gram negative:...
and anti-endotoxin antibodies have since then fascinated researchers of many disciplines, particularly in the fields of diagnosis, prevention, and therapy of severe Gram-negative
Gram-negative
Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol. In a Gram stain test, a counterstain is added after the crystal violet, coloring all Gram-negative bacteria with a red or pink color...
infections.
Pfeiffer was a pioneer in typhoid vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
. He discovered the specific bacteria-dissolving immune bodies in cholera and typhus. The British pathologist Almroth Wright
Almroth Wright
Sir Almroth Edward Wright, KBE, CB was a British bacteriologist and immunologist.He is notable for developing a system of anti-typhoid fever inoculation, recognizing early on that antibiotics would create resistant bacteria and being a strong advocate for preventive medicine.-Biography:Wright was...
is generally credited with the initiation of typhoid vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
in 1896. His claims of priority were challenged as early as 1907 in favour of Richard Pfeiffer. A review of the original literature of the 1890s and the early 1900s revealed that several groups were working on typhoid vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
at the same time and that the credit for the initiation of typhoid vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
studies should be shared by these two great researchers.
In 1892 he isolated what he thought was the causative agent of influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
. The culprit, according to Pfeiffer, was a small rod-shaped bacterium that he isolated from the noses of flu-infected patients . He dubbed it Bacillus influenzae (or Pfeiffer's bacillus), which was later called Haemophilus influenzae
Haemophilus influenzae
Haemophilus influenzae, formerly called Pfeiffer's bacillus or Bacillus influenzae, Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium first described in 1892 by Richard Pfeiffer during an influenza pandemic. A member of the Pasteurellaceae family, it is generally aerobic, but can grow as a facultative anaerobe. H...
. Few doubted the validity of this discovery, in large part because bacteria had been shown to cause other human diseases, including anthrax, cholera, and plague.
When history's deadliest influenza pandemic began in 1918, most scientists believed that Pfeiffer's bacillus caused influenza. With the lethality of this outbreak (which killed an estimated 20 to 100 million worldwide) came urgency—researchers around the world began to search for Pfeiffer's bacillus in patients, hoping to develop antisera and vaccines that would protect against infection. In many patients, but not all, the bacteria were found. Failures to isolate B. influenzae (now known as Haemophilus influenzae) were largely chalked up to inadequate technique, as the bacteria were notoriously difficult to culture.
The first blow to Pfeiffer's theory came from Peter Olitsky and Frederick Gates at The Rockefeller Institute
Rockefeller University
The Rockefeller University is a private university offering postgraduate and postdoctoral education. It has a strong concentration in the biological sciences. It is also known for producing numerous Nobel laureates...
. Olitsky and Gates took nasal secretions from patients infected with the 1918 flu and passed them through Berkefeld filters, which exclude bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
. The infectious agent — which caused lung disease in rabbits — passed through the filter, suggesting that it was not a bacterium.
Although the duo had perhaps isolated the influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
(which they nevertheless referred to as an atypical bacterium called Bacterium pneumosintes), other researchers could not reproduce their results.
In 1896 he isolated micrococcus catarrhalis that is the cause of laryngitis
Laryngitis
Laryngitis is an inflammation of the larynx. It causes hoarse voice or the complete loss of the voice because of irritation to the vocal folds . Dysphonia is the medical term for a vocal disorder, of which laryngitis is one cause....
. M catarrhalis also causes bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
, and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
in children and adults with underlying chronic lung disease. It is occasionally a cause of meningitis
Meningitis
Meningitis is inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges. The inflammation may be caused by infection with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by certain drugs...
.
Richard Pfeiffer also invented a universal staining for histological preparations.
Pfeiffer studied at the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Akademie in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
from 1875 to 1879. After completing his studies he was conferred doctor of medicine in 1880 and subsequently served as an army physician and bacteriologist until 1889. He was a student of Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
(1843–1910), and from 1887 to 1891 worked as Koch's assistant in the Institute of Hygiene in Berlin. In 1891 he was entrusted with the leadership of the scientific department of the Institute of Infectious Diseases in Berlin.
In 1897 Pfeiffer joined the German expedition under Robert Koch
Robert Koch
Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a German physician. He became famous for isolating Bacillus anthracis , the Tuberculosis bacillus and the Vibrio cholerae and for his development of Koch's postulates....
to India to investigate the plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
. The following year he went to Italy with Koch to do research on Malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
. He moved to Königsberg
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
to enter the chair of hygiene in 1899, succeeding Erwin von Esmarch (1855–1915). He remained in that city until 1909, when he moved on to the same chair in Breslau. Pfeiffer retired there as emeritus in 1925.