Alejandro Posadas (December 28, 1870 – November 21, 1902) was an Argentinian
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
and
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
specializing in pediatric surgery. He was the first person to film an operation and brought the first
x-ray
An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...
to the country of Argentina.
Posadas was the first person to describe
coccidioidomycosis
Coccidioidomycosis (, ), commonly known as cocci, Valley fever, as well as California fever, desert rheumatism, or San Joaquin Valley fever, is a mammalian fungal disease caused by '' Coccidioides immitis'' or ''Coccidioides posadasii''. Coccid ...
(later known as Posadas Disease) and ''
Coccidioides posadasii
''Coccidioides posadasii'' is a pathogenic fungus that, along with ''Coccidioides immitis'', is the causative agent of coccidioidomycosis, or valley fever in humans. It resides in the soil in certain parts of the Southwestern United States, no ...
'' was named after him.
A victim of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, he died while studying in France in 1902 at the age of 31.
Legacy
Hospital Nacional Dr. Alejandro Posadas in
Moron, Argentina, is named after him.
References
Further reading
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1870 births
1902 deaths
Argentine surgeons
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