TUBERCULOSIS IN GENOA: THE CONTRIBUTION OF EDOARDO MARAGLIANO (1849 – 1940) AND THE MEDICAL SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GENOA

Abstract

Between nineteenth and twentieth centuries, medicine knew the beginning of an incessant development: the birth of new medical specialties (radiology, for instance), the introduction of new devices in medical and surgical wards, and the discovery of bacteria represented important milestones in that first historical period. The Medical School of the University of Genoa, head by Edoardo Maragliano, full professor of internal medicine, took on a relevant role in the battle against tuberculosis, through the experimental demonstration of the existence of an immune response against M. tuberculosis and the production of an inactivated vaccine. During his career, Maragliano surrounded himself with graduate assistants and students, who would later become full professors of internal medicine in prestigious universities and excellent physicians. In order to allow the correct diagnosis and educate his young colleagues, Maragliano endowed his clinic laboratories of haematology, biochemistry, microbiology and radiology. Under his supervision, the assistants of the Genoa University Medical Clinic issued over two thousand scientific publications.