Alfred Blaschko

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Alfred Blaschko (born March 3 or March 4, 1858 in Freienwalde ; died March 26, 1922 in Berlin ) was a German physician who, as a social hygienist and dermatovenerologist, mainly devoted himself to the fight against venereal diseases .

Life

Blaschko, son of a doctor from Freienwalde, studied medicine in Berlin from 1876. In 1880 he completed his studies with a doctorate under Hermann Munk and a thesis on the visual center in frogs . This was followed by surgical and internal training with Georg Wegner in Stettin until 1883 . In 1883 Blaschko settled in Berlin, where he became a specialist in a large health insurance company. As part of this activity, he was the first to deal with work-related skin diseases .

Inspired by a work stay of several weeks with Moritz Kaposi in a Viennese skin clinic, Blaschko devoted himself to research into commercial dermatoses . B. 1886 on the evidence of silver in the skin of metal workers. In 1888 he completed his habilitation in dermatology . Since 1892 Blaschko dealt extensively with sexually transmitted diseases. He was the first to point out the paraffin embolism of the lungs after mercury injections, with which syphilis had been treated until then . He also advocated inpatient treatment of the sexually ill instead of the moral surveillance that was customary at the time. But Blaschko also deals with other dermatological diseases such as war melanoses , ichthyoses , light and radium therapy . Despite academic achievements recognized during his lifetime, Blaschko was denied a university chair because of his Jewish faith and his socialist commitment.

From around 1890 Blaschko devoted himself more to prophylaxis than to the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. He was committed to prevention and education. 1895 Blaschko continued intensively with the county Memel occurring leprosy apart, reaching the establishment of a leprosarium in Memel . This commitment reflects Blaschko's social attitude, which he also represented politically as a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany . In 1902, Blaschko co-founded the German Society for Combating Venereal Diseases . He later played a key role in the introduction of the Reich Law to Combat Venereal Diseases .

On the basis of 170 cases, Blaschko described dermatoses arranged in stripes in 1901, the Blaschko lines later named after him . These lines probably correlate with skin growth lines in embryogenesis .

In 1912 Blaschko warned of a "venereal contamination" of society and called for the fight against sexually transmitted diseases.

Blaschko was buried in Section V of the Grunewald cemetery. The German-British biochemist Hermann Blaschko was his son.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

  • Considerations on the architecture of the epidermis. Berlin, 1887.
  • Treatment of venereal diseases in health insurance companies and hospitals. Berlin, 1890.
  • Spread of syphilis in Berlin. Berlin, 1892.
  • Syphilis and prostitution from a public health standpoint. Berlin, 1893.
  • Leprosy in the Memel district. Berlin, 1897.
  • Hygiene of prostitution and venereal diseases. Jena, 1900.
  • The nerve distribution in the skin in relation to skin diseases. Vienna, 1901.

literature

Web links

Commons : Alfred Blaschko  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Volkmar Sigusch: Alfred Blaschko (1858-1922) . In: Volkmar Sigusch, Günter Grau (Hrsg.): Personal Lexicon of Sexual Research . Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009, pp. 47–51; here: p. 47.
  2. ↑ Birgit Adam : The punishment of Venus. A cultural history of venereal diseases. Orbis, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-572-01268-6 , p. 8 (quoted).
personal data
SURNAME Blaschko, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German medic
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1858 or March 4, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Freienwalde (Oder)
DATE OF DEATH March 26, 1922
Place of death Berlin