Gerardo Ignacio Varela Mariscal, Mexican bacteriologist (Oaxaca 03 October 1898 – Ciudad de Mexico 1977)

Prepared a vaccine against typhus (1933)

Discovered that colibacilli with Salmonella antigens were associated with diarrheal episodes in children leading to the identification of E. coli enteropathogens (first colibacillus known)

With A. Aguirre & J. Carrillo. Escherichia-coli gomezi, nueva especie aislada de un caso mortal de diarrhea. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infantil 54:623-6, 1946

With A. Arroyo Borstein. First demonstration of the natural existence of Salmonella in donkeys. Rev. Invest. Salud Publica 26(3):201-4, 1966

Demonstrated that trench fever is transmitted by the body louse and caused by the bacterium Rickettsia quintana

With C. Molina Pasquel & J.W. Vinson. Trench fever II. Propagation of Rickettsia quintana on cell-free medium from the blood of two patients. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 18:708-12, 1969

With J.W. Vinson & C. Molina Pasquel. Trench fever III. Induction of clinical disease in volunteers inoculated with Rickettsia quintana propagated on blood agar. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 18:713-22, 1969

DESCRIBED

A number of bacilli

With J. Zozaya described 3 new serotypes of Salmonella

Salmonella mexicana 1942 with J. Zozaya & J. Olarte

Serratia indoligena (1941) with J. Zozaya

Aerobacter amigdalina 1943 with Olarte & Zozaya

Papers in top journals

With U.S. Kuhn, F.W. Chandler & G.G. Osuna. Experimental pinta in the chimpanzee. JAMA 206(4):829, 1968

With C. Ortiz Mariotte & R. Silva. Complement fixation in rat’s blood sera. Science 104(2700):303, 1946

With J. Olarte. Transmission of Salmonella enteritidis by Pulex irritans and Ctenocephalus canis. Science 104(2692):104-5, 1946

With J. Olarte. Salmonella isolated from human mesenteric lymph nodes. Science 99(2577):407-8, 1944

METHODS

With R. Fournier Villada & H. Mooser. Nuevo tratamiento para la expulsión de los tricocefalos. Pediat. Asmericas 2:640, 1944

With J. Olarte. Methods for the isolation and classification of Salmonella and Shigella from fecal matter. Medicina 30(612):385-7, 1950

Tecnica para el estudio bacteriologico de las intoxicaciones de origen alimenticio (1951)

With M.L. Zarate Aquino. Differentiation between classical and murine typhus by Giroud’s microagglutination. Medicina 44:297-9, 1964

With M.A. Bravo-Becherelle & R. Velasco. New method for the destruction of Pediculus humanus. Study on the ingestion of phenylbutazone in humans and rabbits. Salud Publ. Mex. 7(2):183-7, 1965

With M.E. Bustamante developed serological techniques for identification