Octave Gengou (27 February 1875,

Ouffet Ouffet (; wa, Oufet) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Ouffet had a total population of 2,529. The total area is 40.22 km2 which gives a population density Population density ( ...

– 25 April 1957,

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

) was a Belgian

bacteriologist A bacteriologist is a microbiologist, or similarly trained professional, in bacteriology -- a subdivision of microbiology that studies bacteria, typically pathogenic ones. Bacteriologists are interested in studying and learning about bacteria, ...

. He researched with

Jules Bordet Jules Jean Baptiste Vincent Bordet (; 13 June 1870 – 6 April 1961) was a Belgian immunologist and microbiologist. The bacterial genus ''Bordetella'' is named after him. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to him in 1919 for ...

the ''

Bordetella pertussis ''Bordetella pertussis'' is a Gram-negative, aerobic, pathogenic, encapsulated coccobacillus of the genus ''Bordetella'', and the causative agent of pertussis or whooping cough. Like '' B. bronchiseptica'', ''B. pertussis'' is motile and expre ...

'' bacteria.

Biography

At the age of 22, he obtained his doctorate at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

, later being named as deputy director at the

Pasteur Institute The Pasteur Institute (french: Institut Pasteur) is a French non-profit private foundation dedicated to the study of biology, micro-organisms, diseases, and vaccines. It is named after Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization and vaccines ...

of Brabant. In 1945, he became professor emeritus at the University of Brussels.ARMB; Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium
biographical information Gengou worked at the Belgium

. With

he isolated ''Bordetella pertussis'' in pure culture in 1906 and declared it as the cause of

whooping cough Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or t ...

. In 1912, he developed the first

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

. He also worked on various important fundamental research on a now common test for diseases (e.g. the "

Wassermann test The Wassermann test or Wassermann reaction (WR) is an antibody test for syphilis, named after the bacteriologist August Paul von Wassermann, based on complement fixation. It was the first blood test for syphilis and the first in the nontrepone ...

" of August von Wassermann). He served as secretary general of the ''Oeuvre Nationale Belge contre la Tuberculose'' and as an honorary president of the ''Ligue nationale belge contre la Tuberculose''.

Published works

With Jules Bordet, he collaborated on the following works: * ''Contribution à l'étude de la coagulation du sang'', 1903 – Contribution to the study of blood coagulation. * ''Le Microbe de la coqueluche'', 1906 – The microbe "pertussis". * ''Note complémentaire sur le microbe de la coqueluche'', 1906 – Additional notes on the microbe "pertussis". * ''L'Endotoxine coquelucheuse'', 1909 – The pertussis

endotoxin Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are large molecules consisting of a lipid and a polysaccharide that are bacterial toxins. They are composed of an O-antigen, an outer core, and an inner core all joined by a covalent bond, and are found in the outer m ...

. * ''Etiologie de la coqueluche. Etat actuel de la question'', 1909 – Etiology of pertussis. Current status of the question. * ''La Coagglutination des globules rouges par les mélanges des anticorps et des antigènes albumineux'', 1911 – Coagglutination of

red blood cell Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...

s by mixtures of

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All the proteins of the albumin family are water-soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Albumins ...

antibodies and antigens. * ''Le Diagnostic de la coqueluche fruste par la méthode de la fixation d'alexine'', 1911.IDREF.fr
bibliography

References

External links

Biography of Octave Gengou
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gengou, Octave Belgian microbiologists Belgian biologists 1875 births 1957 deaths People from Liège Province University of Liège alumni

Biography

Published works

See also

References

External links