Wilhelm Siegmund Frei (5 September 1885 – 27 January 1943) was a German

dermatologist Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medical ...

best known for his contributions to Durand-Nicolas-Favre disease, a

sexually transmitted disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral ...

found mainly in tropical and subtropical climates. He is also known for the

Frei Test The Frei test was developed in 1925 by Wilhelm Siegmund Frei, a German dermatologist, to identify lymphogranuloma venereum. Antigen made from sterile pus aspirated from previously unruptured abscesses, produced a reaction in patients with lymphogr ...

, which was developed in 1925 for the detection of

lymphogranuloma venereum Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV; also known as climatic bubo, Durand–Nicolas–Favre disease, poradenitis inguinale, lymphogranuloma inguinale, and strumous bubo) is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the invasive serovars L1, L2, L2a, L2 ...

(LGV).

Early life

Wilhelm Siegmund Frei was born in Neustadt,

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

. His father, Emil Frei, was a

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

firm director, from Neustadt. His mother was Frederika Ring, who came from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Wilhelm had two sisters, Gerta Frei (1887 — presumably killed by Nazis) and Josephina Frei (1888).

Life

Wilhelm studied medicine in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, Germany, and went on to get his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

in 1913. He met Magda Frankfurter (1885–1973) when they were both studying medicine in Freiburg and was married on 12 January 1912. They had their first child Marianne, later that year on 7 November 1912, and their second child Fritz was born on 12 December 1915. Due to the rise of the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and bad times looming ahead in Germany, he immigrated to New York with his family and went to work at the Montefiore Hospital in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

from 1937 until he fell ill and died on 27 January 1943, leaving behind his wife and three children at the age of 58.

References

* Frei Darrow, Marianne P., Daughter of Wilhelm Siegmund Frei * Nagar R, Pande S, Khopkar U. Intradermal tests in dermatology-I: Tests for infectious diseases. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol 2006;72:461-465 * Bedson SP, Barwell CF, King EJ, Bishop LW. The Laboratory Diagnosis of Lymphogranuloma Venereum. J Clin Pathol 1949;2:241-9.

External links

Wilhelm Siegmund Frei
incorporated text {{DEFAULTSORT:Frei, Wilhelm Siegmund 1885 births 1943 deaths 20th-century German people German dermatologists American dermatologists Academic staff of the University of Breslau University of Göttingen alumni Silesian Jews Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Physicians from the Province of Silesia People from Prudnik