Lewis W. Wannamaker

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Lewis W. Wannamaker (born May 19, 1923 , † March 24, 1983 ) was an American microbiologist and specialist in pediatrics .

Wannamaker studied at Emory University and medicine at Duke University . After completing his specialist training in pediatrics at Duke University Hospital and Willard Park Hospital, he was in the US Army in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and built the streptococcal laboratory on the Francis E. Warren Air Force with Charles Rammelkamp and others Base in Wyoming. There he demonstrated, among other things, that treatment of streptococcal infections and other bacterial infections with penicillin (against pharyngitis due to streptococci) prevents the development of rheumatic fever, for which he received the Lasker Award in 1954. He remained connected to the US Army as a scientist and advisor for the rest of his career, for example as the long-time director of the Commission for Streptococcus and Staphylococcal Infections. From 1952 he was at the University of Minnesota , where he became professor of pediatrics and microbiology and head of the department of infectious diseases in children.

Wannamaker was a leading expert on strep infections. He characterized several nucleases of Lancefield group  A streptococci and developed a streptococcal test from the antibody response to these nucleases, which became a standard test. He also studied the genetics and epidemiology of streptococci and their toxins . For example, he found significant differences in streptococcal infections in the skin and throat area. Later his group investigated the genetic control of cell surface factors of streptococci, which are important for their virulence , and the immune response to products of the streptococci.

In 1980 he received the Robert Koch Prize . He was a Guggenheim Fellow and received the Alexander von Humboldt Prize for Senior US Scientists. From 1958 he was a career investigator for the American Heart Foundation. He was chairman of its committee on rheumatic fever and bacterial endocarditis . He was vice president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation . In 1978 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1982 he became a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences .

Web links

  • Louis Tobin: Lewis W. Wannamaker. In: Transactions American Clinical and Climatological Association. Volume 96, 1985. PMC 2279627 (free full text)
  • Obituary by Fr. Frederick Sparling. In: Reviews of Infectious Diseases. Volume 5, 1983, p. 636. (pdf)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life data according to the obituary by Sparling, Reviews of Infectious Diseases, Volume 5, Suppl. 4, 1983, S636
  2. ↑ Another influence was John Dingle
  3. ↑ LW Wannamaker, CH Jr.Rammelkamp, ​​FW Denny, WR Brink, HB Houser, EO Hahn, JH Dingle: Prophylaxis of acute rheumatic fever, by treatment of the preceding streptococcal infection with various amounts of depot penicillin. In: Am. J. Med. 1951, 10, pp. 673-695.
  4. ↑ CH Jr. Rammelkamp, ​​LW Wannamaker, FW Denny: The epidemiology and prevention of rheumatic fever. In: Bull. NY Acad. Med. 1952, 28, pp. 321-334. US Army Medical Department, History, List of publications by Wannamaker during his time with the US Army
personal data
SURNAME Wannamaker, Lewis W.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American microbiologist and specialist in pediatrics
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1923
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 1983