Biography
Attilio Macchiavello Varas, Chilean hygienist and epidemiologist (Antofagasta 07 December 1902 – Santiago de Chile 14 December 1996)
From Italian father
Authored over 200 papers (until 1962)
ACHIEVEMENTS
With Richard Dresser. A modified method of obtaining large amounts of Rickettsia prowazeki by roentgen irradiation of rats. J. Exp. Med. 62(3): 297-304, 1935
Developed Macchiavello stain for Chlamydia and Rickettsia
Estudios sobre tifo exantemático. III. Un nuevo metodo para teñir Rickettsia. Rev. Chil. Hig. Med. Prev. 1:101-6, 1937
Described murine pseudo plague with paralysis caused by Klebsiella muris
Pseudo-peste murina con paralisis del tren posterior, nueva enfermedad epizootica de la rata causada por Klebsiella. Arch. Hig. Rio de Janeiro 12:69-92, 1942
Proposed intradermic auto hemotherapy for systemic bartonellosis
Posible Nuevo tratamento para la bartonelosis sistemica. Auto-hemoterapia intradérmica. Mecanismo fisio-patologico de la infección bartonelar. Rev. Ecuat. Hig. Med. Trop. 1(4):341-61, 1944
With A.B. Coutinho described adenomieloenterosis, a new viral cat disease (1944)
First to report bubonic plague control employing DDT
Identified cold inguinal bubo as pestis minor
Described pestous multiganglionic fever as a new syndrome
Reported the first case of mixed infection by Pasteurella pestis & Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis
First to show the lack of Vitamin E as the main responsible for murine rodents migration
First to indicate those murine rodents that are relatively refractory to bubonic plague are intersazonal reservoirs of that disease
Described a great number of new bubonic plague reservoirs and vectors (1954)
Developed a new global rat-flea index (adopted by World Health Organization)
First to grow trachoma virus on eggs describing its life cycle before Chinese scientists (1944)
First vital case of toxoplasmosis in a systematic manner in medical literature
Introduced the concept of sanimetry (1960s)
