Carlos Chagas

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Carlos Justiniano Ribeiro Chagas, or Carlos Chagas (Portuguese:

Chagas was the son of José Justiniano das Chagas, a coffee farmer at Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais, and Mariana Cândida Chagas (née Ribeiro de Castro), both of Portuguese descent.^[2] His birth place is also recorded as Oliveira, his mother's hometown,^[3] where the family spent half of their times. He was the eldest of four children, and his father died when he was four years old. At age seven, his mother enrolled him to Jesuit boarding school in São Paulo. In 1888, a political turmoil erupted as Emperor Dom Pedro II declared abolition of slavery. Chagas was compelled to left the school. His mother then transferred him to a nearer Catholic school in San Antonio, where he completed up to his secondary studies.^[2]

Chagas entered the School of Mining Engineering at

For the dissertation research, Fajardo, introduced Chagas to Oswaldo Cruz (1872–1917) founder of the Manguinhos Institute (which was later renamed after Cruz) who would be most suitable to guide him. This led to a lasting friendship between Chagas and Cruz, and Chagas's lifelong association with Cruz's institute.^[2] He graduated in 1902 with a dissertation on malaria and earned his doctorate the following year with a thesis on Estudos Hematológicos do Impaludismo (Hematological Studies on Malaria).^[5][6][7]

Early career

After a brief stint as a medical practitioner in the hinterlands, Chagas accepted a position in anti-malarial campaigns. In 1905, he worked under the Docas de Santos company in the port authority of

In 1906, Chagas returned to Rio de Janeiro and joined the

During his investigation of malaria in Lassance, Chagas observed the peculiar infestation of the rural houses with a large

Chagas's description of the new disease was to become a classic in medicine, and brought him domestic and international distinction. He also persuaded Argentine physician Salvador Mazza to research the epidemic, leading to the latter's confirmation of the existence of Trypanosoma cruzi in Argentina in 1927, and eventually to government action.^[12]

Chagas heart disease

Upon discovering Trypanosoma cruzi as the parasite of humans, Chagas additionally discovered that the parasite was responsible for a deadly heart disease now known as Chagas heart disease or

Chagas was also the first to discover the parasitic fungal genus Pneumocystis in the lungs of his experimentally trypanosome-infected guinea pigs.^[18] In 1908, he reported in Brazil Médico the blood sample of marmosets had protozoan parasites that he named Trypanosoma minasense.^[19] He also described in it that the parasite was associated with another protozoan but which he could not identify.^[20] At the time, he did not recognize it as a separate organism from the protozoan he had identified, but believed it as part of the life cycle stage of the protozoan. Therefore, he described both the fungi and the protozoan as Schizotrypanum cruzi.^[10]

In 1912, French couple at the Pasteur Institute, Pierre Delanoë and Marie Delanoë identified and described the other parasite they found in rats. They knew that the parasite was not related to the trypanosomes and created a new genus Pneumocystis.^[21][22] The original name of the species Pneumocystis carinii was later changed to Pneumocystis jirovecii when it was established that the parasite is a fungus that causes human infection.^[18][23] Chagas followed the literature closely and quickly confirmed the distinction, whereupon he again adopted the name Trypanosoma cruzi for the protozoan.^[1] The original Pneumocystis species discovered by Chagas in guinea pigs has not yet been named as a separate species.^[22][24]

Personal life

Chagas was a studious student. At the medical school, he was nicknamed "two-candle student" as he would use up two candles every evening for reading as there was no electricity in Rio de Janeiro at the time. It was during his medical course that his teacher, Miguel Couto, introduced him to a relative, Fernando Lobo. He eventually married Lobo's daughter, Iris.^[2]

One of his sons,

After the death of his mentor in 1917, Chagas accepted Cruz's directorship of the institute, a post he held until his own death in 1934.

Chagas died in Rio de Janeiro from a heart attack in 1934 at 55 years of age.^[2]

Awards and honours

Chagas was elected to the National Academy of Medicine and received the prestigious

In 1922, Chagas became member of the Health Committee of the League of Nations.^[25]

Since 2020, The World Chagas Disease Day is observed by the World Health Organization every year on 14 April,^[26][27] commemorating the day Chagas discovered T. cruzi from Berenice.^[11]

Nobel Prize controversy

Chagas' discovery was recognized at home and abroad as one of the most important achievements in parasitology. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize each time by only a single Brazilian nominator. In 1913, 63 scientists were nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the top two nominees having received nine and eight nominations, respectively. In 1921, 42 scientists were nominated for the award, the top four nominees having received 11, nine, seven, and seven nominations, respectively. A hundred years after the discovery of the disease, speculation still remains regarding the two official nominations of Carlos Chagas for the Nobel Prize.^[28]

The reason why the prize was not awarded to Chagas may have been the strong opposition that he faced in Brazil, from some physicians and researchers of that time.^[25] They went as far as questioning the existence of Chagas disease, thereby possibly influencing the decision of the Nobel Committee not to award the prize to him. Analysis of the database of the Nobel Prize archives, with the revelation of the names of nominators, nominees, and prizewinners from 1901 to 1951, brought information not only about what was considered to be a scientific achievement at that time, but also about who the important scientists were and the relationships between them. The connections of the members of the Nobel Committee with the international scientific community, almost exclusively centered in European and North American scientists, also influenced their choices. The nonrecognition of Carlos Chagas' discoveries by the Nobel Committee appears to be more correctly explained by these factors than by the negative impact of the local opposition.^[28]

References

Further reading

• Coutinho M., et al. (1999). "The Noble Enigma: Chagas' Nominations for the Nobel Prize". Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. 94 (Suppl 1): 123–9.
  PMID 10677698
  .
• Lewinsohn R. (1979). "Carlos Chagas (1879-1934): the discovery of Trypanosoma cruzi and of American trypanosomiasis (footnotes to the history of Chagas's disease)". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 73 (5): 513–23.
  PMID 119337
  .
• Kropf SP, Lacerda AL (2009). Carlos Chagas, scientist of Brazil (PDF) (in Portuguese and English). Translated by Diane Grosklaus Whitty (1 ed.). Fiocruz. p. 308.
  OL 24816931M. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-05-07. (Internet Archive
  )

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Carlos Chagas.

• Carlos Justiniano Ribeiro Chagas. WhoNamedIt.
• Dr. Carlos Chagas^{[permanent dead link]}
• Historical aspects of Chagas disease. Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.