Vincenzo Tiberio

Vincenzo Tiberio

Vincenzo Tiberio (May 1, 1869 – January 7, 1915) was an Italian researcher and medical officer of the Medical Corps of the Italian Navy and physician at the University of Naples. During his medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Naples he noticed that when the walls of a well which supplied drinking water was cleaned off, the people who drank the well’s water complained of intestinal disorders. After further research he published a paper in 1895 on the antibacterial power of some extracts of mold, making him one of several researchers whose work on a mold/antibiotic connection anticipated the discovery of the drug penicillin by Alexander Fleming thirty-five years later (see: Penicillin - Discovery).[1][2][3][4] At the time, his work was disregarded as coincidence and received no further study.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Tiberio, Vincenzo (1895) "Sugli estratti di alcune muffe" [On the extracts of certain molds], Annali d'Igiene Sperimentale (Annals of Experimental Hygiene), 2nd series, 5 : 91-103. From p. 95: "Risulta chiaro da queste osservazioni che nella sostanza cellulare delle muffe esaminate son contenuti dei principi solubili in acqua, forniti di azione battericida: sotto questo riguardo sono più attivi o in maggior copia quelli dell' Asp. flavescens, meno quelli del Mu. mucedo e del Penn. glaucum." (It is clear from these observations that in the cellular substance of the molds examined are contained some water-soluble substances, provided with bactericidal action: in this respect are more active or in greater abundance those of Aspergillus flavescens; less, those of Mucor mucedo and Pennicillum glaucum.)
  2. ↑ Public Health History Corner, 2011. Vincenzo Tiberio: a misunderstood researcher.
  3. ↑ http://www.almanacco.rm.cnr.it/reader/cw_usr_view_recensione?id_articolo=1704&giornale=1679
  4. ↑ http://festival2011.festivalscienza.it/site/home/programma-2011/eventi-per-tipo/conferenze/vincenzo-tiberio-vero-scopritore-degli-antibiotici.html
  5. ↑ Public Health History Corner, 2011. Vincenzo Tiberio: a misunderstood researcher.


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