Charles Wardell Stiles

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Charles Wardell Stiles (May 15, 1867 – January 24, 1941)[1] was an American parasitologist born in Spring Valley, New York. He was notable for working on a campaign against hookworm infestation in the American South, where it had been found to cause high rates of anemia, a debilitating disease.[2]

Biography

He studied science at

Institut Pasteur in Paris. He obtained his doctorate in Leipzig under the direction of parasitologist Rudolf Leuckart
(1822–1898).

He taught classes in medical zoology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and at Georgetown University. He also worked as a zoologist for the U.S. government at the Bureau of Animal Industry in the Department of Agriculture (1891–1902) and was later chief zoologist at the Hygienic Laboratory of the US Public Health and Marine Hospital Service (1902–1931). In 1898, Stiles was deployed to Germany as scientific ambassador on the BAI's behalf to investigate reports of trichinosis in American pork. The investigation concluded that the contemporary standard of microscopic examination of pork was insufficient for preventing the disease.[3]

In addition, he helped establish the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission for the Eradication of Hookworm Disease. In 1921 Stiles was awarded the

National Academy of Sciences.[4]

Stiles is remembered for his investigations of parasitic diseases such as

eating dirt is a symptom of severe anemia). Through the journalist Walter Hines Page, this led to the creation of the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission (a forerunner of the Rockefeller Foundation) campaign for the eradication of hookworm, especially in the American South.[5] He also dealt with health and sanitation issues that involved miners and cotton mill
workers.

Stiles was secretary of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, a group involved in setting standards for zoological classifications.

Selected writings

Portrait c. 1912
  • "Trichinosis in Germany", 1901
  • "Index-Catalog of Medical and Veterinary Zoology", (1902–20)
  • "Report upon the prevalence and geographic distribution of hookworm disease (
    anchylostomiasis
    ) in the United States", 1903
  • "A zoological investigation into the cause, transmission, and source of Rocky Mountain "spotted fever", 1905
  • "A statistical study of the prevalence of
    intestinal worms
    in man", 1906
  • "The Sanitary Privy: Its Purpose and Construction", 1910
  • "Key-catalogue of the Protozoa reported for man", 1925
  • "Key-catalogue of the worms reported for man", 1926
The standard author abbreviation Stiles is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[6]

References

  1. ^ Wright, Willard H. (1941). "Charles Wardell Stiles: 1867–1941," The Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 195–201.
  2. ^ John Ettling, The Germ of Laziness: Rockefeller Philanthropy and Public Health in the New South (Harvard University Press, 1981), pp. 9-48, 98-129, 200-202 on Stiles.
  3. ^ "Trichinellosis (Trichinosis)". nal.usda.gov.
  4. ^ "Public Welfare Award". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  5. ISBN 9780374172145
    .
  6. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Stiles.
  • Parts of this article are based on a translation of the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia.
  • NIH Newsletters Another Kind of NIH Centennial
  • Open Library (bibliography)
  • "Applied Microscopy and American Pork Diplomacy: Charles Wardell Stiles in Germany" (1898–1899).

Further reading

  • Bleakley H. "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South" Quarterly Journal of Economics (2007) 122(1):73-117. doi: 10.1162/qjec.121.1.73. PMID: 24146438; PMCID: PMC3800113.
  • Ettling, John. The Germ of Laziness: Rockefeller Philanthropy and Public Health in the New South (Harvard University Press, 1981), online

External links

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