Prowazek, Stanislaus

Prowazek, Stanislaus

 

Born Nov. 12, 1875, in Neu-haus, Bohemia; died Feb. 17, 1915, in Cottbus, in what is now the German Democratic Republic. Austrian zoologist. Czech by nationality.

From 1907, Prowazek worked at the Institute of Shipboard and Tropical Diseases in Hamburg. His principal works were on parasitic protozoa, including amoebas, trichomonads, and trypanosomes. Prowazek studied intracellular inclusions in focuses of infection of such viral diseases as trachoma, smallpox, and rabies. In 1913 he discovered the causative agent of typhus in the intestinal tract of body lice; this agent was subsequently designated Rickettsia prowazekii. He also investigated sexual reproduction in protozoa and the structure of their nuclei. Prowazek died of typhus contracted while conducting research.

WORKS

Einführung in die Physiologie der Einzelligen (Protozoen). Leipzig, 1910.
Taschenbuch der mikroskopischen Technik der Protisten-Untersuchung, 3rd ed. Leipzig, 1922.