Oswaldo Cruz

Abstract

Jornal Brasileiro de Patologia e Medicina Laboratorial NOSSA CAPA OUR MAGAZINE COVER Oswaldo Cruz, médico e sanitarista brasileiro, fundador da medicina experimental no Brasil, nasceu em São Luís do Paraitinga (SP), em 5 de agosto de 1872. Seu nome completo era Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz. Aos 14 anos ingressou na Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro. Durante os seis anos em que freqüentou o curso, não demonstrou grande interesse pela clínica, mas sentiu-se completamente fascinado pelo mundo microscópico, que começava a ser revelado pelas descobertas de Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch e outros investigadores. A chamada revolução pausteuriana estava promovendo uma transformação radical na medicina. Doutorou-se em 1892, defendendo a tese A Veiculação Microbiana pelas Águas. Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian doctor and sanitarist, founder of experimental Medicine in Brazil, was born in São Luís do Paraitinga, SP, on August 5, 1872. His complete name was Oswaldo Gonçalves Cruz. He was 14 years old when he went into Faculdade de Medicina do Rio de Janeiro. During the six years in which he attended the course, he did not show much interest in clinic, but felt completely fascinated by the microscopic world, that was beginning to be revealed by the discoveries of Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch and other researchers. The so-called Pasteur revolution promoted a radical transformation in Medicine. He graduated in 1892, presenting the thesis "Microbe dissemination through water". In January, 1893, right after graduation, Oswaldo Cruz married Emília da Fonseca. Six children resulted from this marriage: Elisa, Bento, Hercília, Oswaldo, Zahra and Walter. He practiced Medicine in Rio de Janeiro until the middle of 1896, when he traveled to France. In Paris he served his apprenticeship at Instituto Pasteur and, after that, in Germany. Oswaldo Cruz returned to Brazil in 1899, when he was designated to organize the fight against the outbreak of bubonic plague in Santos, SP, as well as in other ports. Named in 1902 to direct the Instituto Soroterápico, currently Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), he managed to assemble an excellent group of young researchers with whom he made the institution achieve a high level as a center of vaccine manufacturing and of experimental Medicine.