Ivan Turgenev

 

Ivan Turgenev

(Novelist, Short Story Writer, Poet, and Popularizer of Russian Literature in the West)

 

Ivan Turgenev was a celebrated short story writer, novelist, and poet from Russia.

He was one of the leading writers who played a significant role in popularizing Russian literature in the West. He was the only Russian novelist of his time believed to have a European perspective. His novel Fathers and Sons was one of his most popular works; it is also considered one of the best novels of the 19th century. Both left- and right-wing segments of Russian politics distrusted Turgenev, as the left believed he was being too critical of young revolutionaries, while the right believed he was not critical enough. Most of his works portray a realistic version of Russian peasant life. He was able to bring much love and concern for his homeland, Russia, from the Western world through his writings. Turgenev was often considered shy, restrained, and soft-spoken by his contemporaries, despite being physically well-built with broad shoulders.

 

Also Known As: Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev

 

Died at Age: 64

 

Family:

Father: Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev

 

Mother: Varvara Turgeneva

 

Siblings: Nikolay Turgenev, Sergei Turgenev

 

Children: Paulinette Turgeneva

 

Country of Birth: Russia

 

Died on: September 3, 1883

 

Place of Death: Bougival, France

 

Cause of Death: Abscess

 

Diseases and Disabilities: Liposarcoma

Key Facts

1. What is Ivan Turgenev known for?

Ivan Turgenev is known for being a prominent Russian novelist and playwright, particularly recognized for his works focusing on social issues and the human condition.

2. What are some of Ivan Turgenev's famous literary works?

Some of Ivan Turgenev's famous literary works include "Fathers and Sons," "A Month in the Country," "Rudin," and "On the Eve."

3. How did Ivan Turgenev's writing style influence Russian literature?

Ivan Turgenev's writing style, characterized by realism and psychological depth, had a significant impact on Russian literature, influencing future generations of writers and contributing to the development of the Russian novel.

4. What themes did Ivan Turgenev often explore in his works?

Ivan Turgenev often explored themes such as love, social class, generational conflict, and the complexities of human relationships in his literary works. 5. How did Ivan Turgenev's works contribute to the Russian literary canon?

Ivan Turgenev's works are considered essential contributions to the Russian literary canon due to their insightful depiction of society, vivid characterizations, and enduring relevance to contemporary readers.

Childhood and Early Life

Ivan Turgenev was born on November 9, 1818, to Sergei Nikolaevich Turgenev and Varvara Petrovna Turgeneva in Oryol, Russia. Sergei was a colonel in the Russian cavalry and belonged to the Turgenev family, which was part of the Tula aristocracy. His mother came from the wealthy Lutovinov family of the Oryol Governorate. He had two brothers, Nikolai and Sergei, and was the second son in the family.

After his formal education, Ivan Turgenev studied for a year at Moscow University. He then studied Classics, Russian Literature, and Philology at the University of St. Petersburg from 1834 to 1837.

He then moved to Germany, where he studied philosophy and history at the University of Berlin. He eventually returned to St. Petersburg, where he took his master's exam.

In 1841, he began his career in the Russian Civil Service, likely to fulfill his mother's wish to see him work in the government, and spent two years of his career in the Ministry of the Interior.

 

Works

Although Ivan Turgenev had written many poems and short stories in his early career, the first work that brought him fame was "A Sportsman's Sketches," a collection of short stories published in 1852. The stories were based on his observations of peasant life and nature during days spent hunting in the forests of his mother's estate in Spasskoye. When he was imprisoned for a month for writing an obituary for Nikolai Gogol, he wrote the famous short story ‘Mumu’ in 1854. This was a story about a deaf and mute peasant whose only source of happiness was his dog, Mumu, whom he was forced to drown under unfortunate circumstances.

Between 1853 and 1862, Ivan Turgenev wrote some of his best works, including ‘Rudin,’ which was published in 1856; ‘A Nest of the Gentry’ in 1859; ‘On the Eve’ in 1860; and ‘Fathers and Sons’ in 1862. Most of these books were based on his love for Pauline and also on his experiences with his mother, who was a strict authoritarian.

The story of ‘A Nest of the Gentry,’ which was published in 1858, was brimming with nostalgia and his love for the Russian countryside. The book also featured ‘Liza,’ which became one of One of the most memorable characters in Russian literature, along with Tolstoy's, is Natasha Rostova.

After Alexander II ascended the Russian throne, which led to a relaxation of the political climate, he wrote the novel On the Eve in 1860. The novel was about the Bulgarian revolutionary Insarov.

In 1862, Ivan Turgenev wrote the masterpiece Fathers and Sons, whose main character, Eugene Bazarov, is considered the "first Bolshevik" in Russian literature. The novel dealt with the constant conflicts between the older and younger generations, who had different perspectives on life.

His last book, entitled Virgin Soil, was published in 1877. The book attempted to do justice to the contemporary problems of Russian society.

Family and Personal Life

Ivan Turgenev never married. However, he did have some affairs with his family's servants. One of his affairs led to the birth of his illegitimate daughter, Paulinette.

He was also closely associated with the popular opera singer Pauline Garcia Viardot, with whom he had a platonic relationship. He also knew her husband and often traveled with the couple.

He did not have many friends. His closest literary friend was Gustave Flaubert, with whom he shared similar views. They both had an unprejudiced and pessimistic worldview.

Death and Legacy

During his later years, Ivan Turgenev's health began to deteriorate, and in January 1883, a malignant tumor was removed from his suprapubic region. However, the cancer had already reached his spinal cord, causing him intense pain during his final months.

He died on September 3, 1883, of a spinal abscess in Bougival, near Paris. His remains were brought to Russia, and he was buried in the Volkovo Cemetery in St. Petersburg. On his deathbed, he was visited by Tolstoy, to whom he said, “My friend, return to literature.” It was after this that Tolstoy wrote the popular works “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and “The Kreutzer Sonata.”

Ivan Turgenev was a favorite of many writers of the next generation, including Henry James and Joseph Conrad, who held similar ideologies. He was also praised by Vladimir Nabokov, who was known for dismissing many authors as poor writers.

Other Facts about Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev had a passion for hunting and spent a significant amount of time in the countryside pursuing this hobby, which often inspired his writing.

Turgenev was known for his love of French culture and literature, and spent much of his life traveling between France and Russia, influencing his writing style and themes.

He had a close friendship with fellow writer Gustave Flaubert, with whom he exchanged ideas and critiques of each other's work.

Turgenev was an advocate for social reform and often used his writings to highlight the problems of serfdom and class inequality in Russia.

Despite his reputation as a serious writer, Turgenev had a lighthearted and humorous side, as evidenced by his witty letters and anecdotes shared among friends and colleagues.

Quotes by Ivan Turgenev

“Time flies sometimes like a bird, and sometimes it crawls like a snail. But a person's greatest happiness comes when he doesn't notice whether it's swift or slow.”

“Do you want to live in peace? Then befriend people, but live alone; don't undertake anything, don't grieve over anything. Do you want to live happily? Then begin by suffering.”

“Unfortunate children mature faster than happy children.”

“What I felt was so new and so sweet! I sat there, looking back a little, without moving, and only occasionally laughed quietly, remembering something, or shuddered at the thought that I was in love, that what I felt was love.”

“Death is an old story, and yet it's always new to someone.”

“Do you want to be fortunate? Learn to suffer, then.”

“Most people don't understand how the other party can blow their nose differently than they do.”

“It is sweet to be the sole source, the tyrannical and unappealable cause of another being's greatest joys and deepest despair.”

“Chess is as imperative a need as literature.”

“There are great mysteries in people's lives, and love is one of the most inaccessible.”

With affection,

Ruben

Story:The Rose

 

The Rose

Story

Ivan Turgenov

 

The last days of August.... Autumn was already at hand.

 

The sun was setting. A sudden downpour of rain, without thunder or lightning, had just passed rapidly over our wide plain.

 

The garden in front of the house glowed and steamed, all filled with the fire of the sunset and the deluge of rain.

 

She was sitting at a table in the drawing-room, and, with persistent dreaminess, gazing through the half-open door into the garden.

 

I knew what was passing at that moment in her soul; I knew that, after a brief but agonising struggle, she was at that instant giving herself up to a feeling she could no longer master.

 

All at once she got up, went quickly out into the garden, and disappeared.

 

An hour passed ... a second; she had not returned.

 

Then I got up, and, getting out of the house, I turned along the walk by which—of that I had no doubt—she had gone.

 

All was darkness about me; the night had already fallen. But on the damp sand of the path a roundish object could be discerned—bright red even through the mist.

 

I stooped down. It was a fresh, new-blown rose. Two hours before I had seen this very rose on her bosom.

 

I carefully picked up the flower that had fallen in the mud, and, going back to the drawing-room, laid it on the table before her chair.

 

And now at last she came back, and with light footsteps, crossing the whole room, sat down at the table.

 

Her face was both paler and more vivid; her downcast eyes, that looked somehow smaller, strayed rapidly in happy confusion from side to side.

 

She saw the rose, snatched it up, glanced at its crushed, muddy petals, glanced at me, and her eyes, brought suddenly to a standstill, were bright with tears.

 

‘What are you crying for?’ I asked.

 

‘Why, see this rose. Look what has happened to it.’

 

Then I thought fit to utter a profound remark.

 

‘Your tears will wash away the mud,’ I pronounced with a significant expression.

 

‘Tears do not wash, they burn,’ she answered. And turning to the hearth she flung the rose into the dying flame.

 

‘Fire burns even better than tears,’ she cried with spirit; and her lovely eyes, still bright with tears, laughed boldly and happily.

 

I saw that she too had been in the fire.

With

 

April 1878.

With affection,

Ruben

Arthur Rubinstein

 

Arthur Rubinstein

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Rubinstein as a young man, 1906

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American pianist. He received praise from around the world for his playing of the music of a selection of composers (many call him the greatest Chopin player of the century).[1]

 

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Poland to a family of Jews. He was the youngest child of the family.[2] His father was a rich owner of a factory.[3]

 

Although his given name is Artur Rubinstein, in English-speaking countries he wanted to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok wanted him to still be billed as Artur, and his recordings were released in the West under both names.[4]

 

Rubinstein learned the piano at the age of two in Warsaw, before beginning study in Berlin at the age of eight. His debut in Berlin was made in 1898 followed by a debut at Carnegie Hall in the United States in 1906.[5]

 

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was famous as a solo pianist, a soloist in piano concertos, and even as a chamber musician. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine, and died in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated. On the first anniversary of his death, his ashes were buried in Jerusalem – as specified in his will – in a plot now nicknamed the "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest.[6]

With affection,

Ruben

 

Paul J. Crutzen

 

Paul J. Crutzen

2010

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

3 December 1933 – 28 January 2021)

was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist.[4][5][6] In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland for their work on atmospheric chemistry and specifically for his efforts in studying the formation and decomposition of atmospheric ozone. In addition to studying the ozone layer and climate change, he popularized the term Anthropocene to describe a proposed new epoch in the Quaternary period when human actions have a drastic effect on the Earth. He was also amongst the first few scientists to introduce the idea of a nuclear winter to describe the potential climatic effects stemming from large-scale atmospheric pollution including smoke from forest fires, industrial exhausts, and other sources like oil fires.

 

He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and an elected foreign member of the Royal Society in the United Kingdom.[7]

 

Early life and education

Crutzen was born in Amsterdam, the son of Anna (Gurk) and Josef Crutzen.[8] In September 1940, the same year Germany invaded The Netherlands, Crutzen entered his first year of elementary school. His classes moved around to different locations after the primary school was taken over by the Germans; during the last months of the war he experienced the 'winter of hunger' with several of his schoolmates dying of famine or disease.[9] In 1946 with some special help he graduated from elementary school and moved onto Hogere Burgerschool (Higher Citizens School). There, with the help of his cosmopolitian parents he became fluent in French, English, and German.[9] Along with languages he also focused on natural sciences in this school, graduating in 1951; however his exam results did not qualify him for university scholarships.[9] Instead, he studied Civil Engineering at a Higher Professional Education school with lower costs, and took a job with the Bridge Construction Bureau in Amsterdam in 1954.[9] After completing military service, in 1958 he married Terttu Soininen, a Finnish university student whom he had met a few years earlier and moved with her to Gävle, a tiny city 200 km north of Stockholm where he took a job at a construction bureau.[9] After seeing an advertisement by the Department of Meteorology at Stockholm University for a computer programmer, he applied, was selected, and in July 1959 moved with his wife and new daughter Ilona to Stockholm.[9]

 

Beginning of academic career

In the 1920's Norwegian meteorologists began using fluid mechanics in analyse weather, and by 1959 the Meteorology Institute of Stockholm University was at the forefront of meteorology research using numerical modeling.[9] The theories were validated in 1960 by images from Tiros, the first weather satellite.

 

At that time, Stockholm University housed the fastest computers in the world with the BESK (Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator) and its successor, the Facit EDB. Crutzen was involved with the programming and application of some of those early numerical models for weather prediction, and also developed a tropical cyclone model himself.[9]

 

Working as a programmer at the university, he was able to take other lectures and in 1963 applied for a PhD program with a thesis combining mathematics, statistics and meteorology.[9]

 

Although intending to extend his cyclone model for his thesis, around 1965 he was asked to help US scientists with a numerical model for the distribution of oxygen allotropes (atomic oxygen, molecular oxygen and ozone) in the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere. This involved studies of stratospheric chemistry and the photochemistry of ozone. His PhD awarded in 1968, Determination of parameters appearing in the "dry" and the "wet" photochemical theories for ozone in the stratosphere, suggested that nitrogen oxides (NOx) should be studied.[9]

 

His thesis was well-received and led to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford, on behalf of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), the precursor of ESA.[9]

 

Research career

Crutzen conducted research primarily in atmospheric chemistry.[10][11][12][13][14][15] He is best known for his research on ozone depletion. In 1970[16] he pointed out that emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a stable, long-lived gas produced by soil bacteria, from the Earth's surface could affect the amount of nitric oxide (NO) in the stratosphere. Crutzen showed that nitrous oxide lives long enough to reach the stratosphere, where it is converted into NO. Crutzen then noted that increasing use of fertilizers might have led to an increase in nitrous oxide emissions over the natural background, which would in turn result in an increase in the amount of NO in the stratosphere. Thus human activity could affect the stratospheric ozone layer. In the following year, Crutzen and (independently) Harold Johnston suggested that NO emissions from the fleet of, then proposed, supersonic transport (SST) airliners (a few hundred Boeing 2707s), which would fly in the lower stratosphere, could also deplete the ozone layer; however more recent analysis has disputed this as a large concern.[17]

 

In 1974 Crutzen received a prepublication draft of a scientific paper by Frank S. Rowland, professor of Chemistry at University of California, Irvine, and Mario J. Molina, a postdoctoral fellow from Mexico. It concerned the possible destructive effects of chlorofluoromethanes on the ozone layer. Crutzen immediately developed a model of this effect, which predicted severe depletion of ozone if those chemicals continued to be used at that current rate. [9]

 

Crutze has listed his main research interests as "Stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and their role in the biogeochemical cycles and climate".[18] From 1980, he worked at the Department of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry,[19] in Mainz, Germany; the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego;[20] and at Seoul National University,[21] South Korea. He was also a long-time adjunct professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and research professor at the department of meteorology at Stockholm University, Sweden.[22] From 1997 to 2002 he was professor of aeronomy at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Utrecht University.[23]

 

He co-signed a letter from over 70 Nobel laureate scientists to the Louisiana Legislature supporting the repeal of that U.S. state's creationism law, the Louisiana Science Education Act.[24] In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.[25]

 

As of 2021, Crutzen had an h-index of 151 according to Google Scholar[26] and of 110 according to Scopus.[27] On his death, the president of the Max Planck Society, Martin Stratmann, said that Crutzen's work led to the ban on ozone-depleting chemicals, which was an unprecedented example of Nobel Prize basic research directly leading to a global political decision.[28]

 

Anthropocene

One of Crutzen's research interests was the Anthropocene.[29][30] In 2000, in IGBP Newsletter 41, Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer, to emphasize the central role of mankind in geology and ecology, proposed using the term anthropocene for the current geological epoch. In regard to its start, they said:

 

To assign a more specific date to the onset of the "anthropocene" seems somewhat arbitrary, but we propose the latter part of the 18th century, although we are aware that alternative proposals can be made (some may even want to include the entire holocene). However, we choose this date because, during the past two centuries, the global effects of human activities have become clearly noticeable. This is the period when data retrieved from glacial ice cores show the beginning of a growth in the atmospheric concentrations of several "greenhouse gases", in particular CO2 and CH4. Such a starting date also coincides with James Watt's invention of the steam engine in 1784.[31]

 

Geoengineering (Climate intervention)

Steve Connor, Science Editor of The Independent, wrote that Crutzen believes that political attempts to limit man-made greenhouse gases are so pitiful that a radical contingency plan is needed. In a polemical scientific essay that was published in the August 2006 issue of the journal Climatic Change, he says that an "escape route" is needed if global warming begins to run out of control.[32]

 

Crutzen advocated for climate engineering solutions, including artificially cooling the global climate by releasing particles of sulphur in the upper atmosphere, along with other particles at lower atmospheric levels, which would reflect sunlight and heat back into space. If this artificial cooling method actually were to work, it would reduce some of the effects of the accumulation of green house gas emissions caused by human activity, potentially extending the planet's integrity and livability.[33]

 

In January 2008, Crutzen published findings that the release of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the production of biofuels means that they contribute more to global warming than the fossil fuels they replace.[34]

 

Nuclear winter

Crutzen was also a leader in promoting the theory of nuclear winter. Together with John W. Birks he wrote the first publication introducing the subject: The atmosphere after a nuclear war: Twilight at noon (1982).[35] They theorized the potential climatic effects of the large amounts of sooty smoke from fires in the forests and in urban and industrial centers and oil storage facilities, which would reach the middle and higher troposphere. They concluded that absorption of sunlight by the black smoke could lead to darkness and strong cooling at the earth's surface, and a heating of the atmosphere at higher elevations, thus creating atypical meteorological and climatic conditions which would jeopardize agricultural production for a large part of the human population.[36]

 

In a Baltimore Sun newspaper article printed in January 1991, along with his nuclear winter colleagues, Crutzen hypothesized that the climatic effects of the Kuwait oil fires would result in "significant" nuclear winter-like effects; continental-sized effects of sub-freezing temperatures.[37]

 

Awards and honours

Paul Crutzen

Mario Molina

Sherwood Rowland

Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone".[4] Some of Crutzen's others honours include the below:

 

1976: Outstanding Publication Award, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration[38]

1984: Rolex-Discover Scientist of the Year.[38]

1985: Recipient of the Leó Szilárd Award for "Physics in the Publics Interest" of the American Physical Society.[38]

1986: Elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.[38]

1989: Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.[39]

1990: Corresponding Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences[40]

1995: Recipient of the Global Ozone Award for "Outstanding Contribution for the Protection of the Ozone Layer" by United Nations Environment Programme.[38]

1999: Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[41]

2006: Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)[1]

2007: International Member of the American Philosophical Society[42]

2017: Honorary Member of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society[43]

2019: Lomonosov Gold Medal[44]

Personal life

In 1956 Crutzen met Terttu Soininen, whom he married a few years later in February 1958. In December of the same year, the couple had a daughter. In March 1964, the couple had another daughter.[4]

 

Crutzen died aged 87 on 28 January 2021.[45]

With affection,

Ruben

 

The Discovery of Ivermectin

 

The Discovery of Ivermectin

Source Translate to English from Biografias.Es

This story is so far-fetched it seems unbelievable: a sample of soil found in Japan ends suffering in Africa. It all begins when a scientist comes across a humble bacterium on a golf course outside Tokyo. Then a team of scientists in the US discover that this bacterium produces compounds that block the activity of nematodes, roundworms. They develop this compound into a drug that prevents the proliferation of parasites in countless pets and farm animals, avoiding millions in losses worldwide. Amazingly, this same drug also serves to prevent and treat human diseases caused by parasitic worms. Without this treatment, these diseases would cause blindness and many other serious symptoms in hundreds of millions of people living in the poorest countries.

 

The story involves thousands of scientists from around the world, as well as doctors, health workers and other very dedicated participants. Also involved are a major pharmaceutical company and a research institute, both willing to give away a drug to rid developing countries of debilitating diseases.

 

And none of this would have happened if no one had been nosy about analyzing soil samples in Japan.

In 1971, Ōmura decided to take a sabbatical and spend time in the laboratory of Max Tishler (1906-1989), an eminent professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. A year earlier, Tishler had retired after a successful career at the pharmaceutical company Merck. Before returning home in 1973, Ōmura managed to secure a pioneering agreement between Merck and its research center in Japan. In Kitasato they would continue to collect and analyze samples, but they would send the most promising ones to Merck's research laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey (USA). There they could do further tests and develop drugs, but the Japanese institute would retain the rights and royalties on any products that were eventually marketed.

At Merck's research labs, a team led by parasitology expert William C. Campbell (born 1930) began testing the samples as a possible treatment for parasitic worms. Campbell, who had studied veterinary medicine and zoology, identified several compounds that could be used as medicines for livestock and other animals.

 

To test these treatments, Merck researchers infected mice with nematode worms and then fed them the different cultures prepared by Ōmura's team. They found that one of the cultures was remarkably effective at killing parasites. Specifically, this sample came from a soil sample collected near a golf course in Kawana, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo. Ōmura identified the bacteria in that culture as a new strain, which was eventually named Streptomyces avermectinius.

 

The Merck team isolated the active compound produced by the bacteria and called it "avermectin." They later discovered that avermectin is actually a mixture of eight very similar compounds. So they began modifying these substances using different chemical reactions, tweaking their molecular structures in very subtle ways to try to make avermectin more effective against parasites and, at the same time, safer for animals. Merck scientists discovered a small modification that achieved both of these effects and named the resulting pair of molecules "ivermectin." This mixture was 25 times more potent than the treatments of the time against parasitic worms.

 

Merck carried out further analyses that showed that ivermectin could also be used to combat mites, fleas and oestrids, all of which are parasites that cause huge economic losses in livestock. It worked well on horses, cows, pigs, sheep and dogs; ivermectin was safe and harmless for all of these animals.

 

These promising results led Merck to market ivermectin as a veterinary treatment in 1981. From 1987, this compound began to be sold to the public under the trademark Heartgard® to prevent the appearance of worms in dogs (today, the animal health company Merial markets this drug). Very soon, these products became the best-selling veterinary drugs, generating sales of more than one billion US dollars a year.

A treatment for river blindness

A child helps a man suffering from onchocerciasis (river blindness) in Sierra Leone.

Children and young people often accompany and guide people affected by onchocerciasis (river blindness). This disease is one of the major causes of preventable blindness. In 1987,

ivermectin was approved for use in humans to treat this disease 

 

The cycle of parasitic diseases often begins with an insect bite.

 

Black flies that breed near river rapids carry larvae of the worm that, in humans, causes onchocerciasis. A disease also known as "river blindness." When a fly infects a human, it can cause the disease to spread to the surrounding environment.

A treatment for river blindness

 

The cycle of parasitic diseases often begins with an insect bite.

 

Black flies that breed near river rapids carry larvae of the worm that causes onchocerciasis in humans. This disease is also known as "river blindness." When an infected fly bites a person, it deposits larvae of the worm on the skin and the parasite enters the body through the wound. There, they mature into adulthood and are able to reproduce. Female worms release thousands of microscopic larvae that can travel throughout our body. When they reach the eyes, they cause wounds and form scar tissue that causes blindness. In addition, the parasite also causes itching and disfigurement of the skin. This disease occurs mainly in Africa, but there are also cases in Yemen and several Latin American countries. It is one of the biggest causes of blindness in the world and is preventable.

 

Campbell encouraged his colleagues to study the potential of ivermectin to treat river blindness. It is an exciting drug because it has no antiviral or antibiotic activity and very few side effects. Researchers found that this is due to ivermectin's mechanism of action, which blocks cellular channels in the worms that are not accessible in pets, livestock, or humans. In young worms, the drug disrupts the function of these channels in muscle and nerve cells, causing paralysis. In addition, the drug makes the more immature worms more vulnerable to our immune system and prevents adult female worms from releasing larvae. All of these effects combined help to eliminate all parasites.

 

In its efforts to develop new medicines, Merck worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to design and implement human clinical trials in 1981. Led by Mohammed Aziz (1929-1987), scientists evaluated the efficacy of ivermectin in treating river blindness in Senegal. The results with a single dose of the pill were highly effective in treating this disease and the drug was approved for human use in 1987 under the name Mectizan®.

William Campbell (right) speaks with Mohammed Aziz (center) and Kenneth Brown (left) at a 1987 press conference in Washington, D.C.,

With affection,

Ruben