Wilhelm August Paul Schüffner (2 January 1867, Ovenstädt – 24 December 1949,

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

) was a German pathologist and epidemiologist who worked mainly in the Dutch East India colonies and specialized in the study of malaria. Schüffner received an MD from Leipzig and was made honorary MD by Amsterdam University in 1912. He identified the rodent reservoir of

Leptospirosis Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by the bacteria ''Leptospira''. Signs and symptoms can range from none to mild (headaches, muscle pains, and fevers) to severe ( bleeding in the lungs or meningitis). Weil's disease, the acute, severe ...

. He was a medical officer from 1897 in the Semembah Tobacco estate in eastern Sumatra and until 1923 he worked in the Dutch colonies in Java and Indonesia studying malaria. He worked on the healthcare of plantation workers in Senembah Maatschappij, Deli, North Sumatra. He demonstrated malaria control through management of hygiene. He recorded the characteristic red stippling found in red blood cells of patients infected by tertian malaria (''

Plasmodium vivax ''Plasmodium vivax'' is a protozoal parasite and a human pathogen. This parasite is the most frequent and widely distributed cause of recurring malaria. Although it is less virulent than ''Plasmodium falciparum'', the deadliest of the five huma ...

'') which are now known as

Schüffner's dots Schüffner's dots refers to a hematological finding that is associated with malaria, exclusively found in infections caused by ''Plasmodium ovale'' or ''Plasmodium vivax''. ''Plasmodium vivax'' induces morphologic alterations in infected host ery ...

. From 1916 he was a public health advisor to the colonial government of the Dutch East India Company. He was elected fellow of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in 1926 and

Leopoldina Leopoldina may refer to: * Colônia Leopoldina, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Alagoa * Leopoldina, Minas Gerais, a Brazilian municipality in the state of Minas Gerais * Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1797-1826), consort of emperor Pedro I ...

in 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schüffner, Wilhelm August Paul German pathologists 1867 births 1949 deaths People from Petershagen Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina German microbiologists People from the Dutch East Indies