Alessandro Lustig or Alessandro Lustig Piacezzi (5 May 1857 – 23 September 1937) was an Austrian-Italian

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causal, causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when us ...

who worked on a number of infectious diseases and their management. He developed approaches to boost immunity against

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

, worked on approaches in the management of

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and established the Institute of General Experimental Pathology and Bacteriology at the Royal University of Florence in 1923. He served as a senator from 1911, holding important positions in several universities.

Early life and education

Lustig was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

, then a part of the Austrian empire, to the Jewish family of Maurizio and Regina (Anna) Segrè and after receiving education locally, he joined the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

to study medicine. He studied physiology under Ernst Wilhelm von Brücke and after receiving his degree in 1883 worked at Innsbruck. He moved to Turin and obtained a medical degree, studying under

Giulio Bizzozero Giulio Bizzozero (; 20 March 1846 – 8 April 1901) was an Italian doctor and medical researcher. He was a pioneer of histology and is credited with the coining of the term platelets and identifying their function in coagulation. Background B ...

, after which he worked at the local Mauriziano hospital and established a laboratory there. Here he examined cholera during an outbreak in 1886.

Career

He became a professor of pathology at the

University of Cagliari The University of Cagliari ( it, Università degli Studi di Cagliari) is a university in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. It was founded in 1606 and is organized in 11 faculties. History The ''Studium Generalis Kalaritanum'' was founded in 1606 alon ...

in 1889, moving to Florence the next year working chiefly on infectious diseases, bacteriology, and immunology. Along with his students Gino Galeotti and Giovanni Polverini, he worked on the induction of an immune response to the toxins obtained from plague bacilli around 1897. This led to a visit to Bombay as part of a British-Italian team to examine cures for the plague. They extracted serum by injecting and immunizing horses. The resulting prophylactic effects against the plague were examined in trials conducted by Nasarwanji Hormusji Choksy. Lustig's early work was on histology and physiology of nerves and muscles. He also made studies on the embryological development of olfactory epithelium, the etiology of goitre and acetonuria. During World War I, he served as a field doctor, working on measures against cholera and typhus. He later studied mainly infectious diseases and was involved in a number of public health committees. He travelled to Turkey, Argentina, Brazil and several other places. Lustig became an Italian citizen in 1891. He married Linda Piacezzi in 1915 and changed his surname. He retired in 1932 and died at

Marina di Pietrasanta Pietrasanta is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of northern Tuscany in Italy, in the province of Lucca. Pietrasanta is part of Versilia, on the last foothills of the Apuan Alps, about north of Pisa. The town is located off the coast, where the ...

, Lucca. He received several honours including the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy (1924) and Grand Cordon of the Order of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro (1933).

References

External links

Biography (in Italian)Senator biography
(in Italian)
Trattato di patologia generale (1921)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lustig, Alessandro 1857 births 1937 deaths Italian pathologists Physicians from Austria-Hungary