Robert Austrian

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Robert Austrian
Born(1916-04-12)April 12, 1916
DiedMarch 25, 2007(2007-03-25) (aged 90)
Alma mater
Scientific career
Institutions

Robert Austrian (

infectious diseases physician and, along with Maxwell Finland, one of the two most important researchers into the biology of Streptococcus pneumoniae in the 20th century.[citation needed
]

Austrian received his

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and held the endower Robert Herr Musser chair there from 1962-1986.[1] He later continued research at Kings County Hospital and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University.[2]

Austrian's awards include the Maxwell Finland plenary lecture at the

pneumococcal disease
. Prior to the Austrian polysaccharide vaccine scientists had prepared simpler whole bacteria and capsular polysaccharide vaccines but they were not accepted as standard of care by the medical community. Several medical authorities touted this era as “the end of infectious diseases” due to the remarkable mortality benefits derived from new antimicrobials and anti-parasitics and vaccine research was not thought to be worthwhile.

When antibiotics came into use for the cure of pneumococcal infections in the 1950s and 60s, further pneumococcal vaccine development was abandoned. Austrian chose to focus on prevention rather than antibiotic treatment of this debilitating disease. Beginning with surveillance studies which he conducted revealed that despite antibiotic therapy, there were still, in the 1960s, almost half as many deaths from pneumonia in the United States as there were at the turn of the century. Austrian also established that persons over 50 years of age, and those with chronic debilitating diseases were the largest group at risk. Austrian established a tremendous knowledge base of pneumococcal biology. He analyzed 83 known types of pneumococci, and determined 14 types were responsible for 80% of invasive pneumococcal infections in man, and that the outer coatings or capsules of these organisms should be included in an effective vaccine. Austrian then devised a multi-valent polysaccharide vaccine and then played a major role in the successful clinical trials which resulted in its licensure.

His Lasker award reads as follows “For his persistent, dedicated efforts which permitted the development of a vaccine that soon may significantly reduce human disease caused by the pneumococcus, this Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award is given.”

Robert Austrian also gives rise to the medical eponym "

Archives of Internal Medicine
.

References

  1. ^ "John Herr Musser Professorship of Research Medicine | Endowed Professorships | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania". www.med.upenn.edu.
  2. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2021-09-09.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Austrian&oldid=1178760715"