December 5 in Medical History
17 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Events
- Sister Elizabeth Kenny new treatment for infantile paralysis approved
- Great Smog of London (England): Killer fog creeps in, as still winds and cold temperatures cause pollution fueled by coal smoke to stagnate; lasting 4 days, over 8,000 deaths attributed to conditions
- Lloyd J. Old discovers the first linkage between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and disease—mouse leukemia—opening the way for the recognition of the importance of the MHC in the immune response.
- LA Dodger pitcher Steve Howe is suspended for 1 year for cocaine use
- Malta becomes the 1st country in Europe to outlaw conversion therapy
- WHO says 142,000 people died of the measles around the world in 2018, nearly 20,000 more than in 2017
- Russia begins vaccinating people with its Sputnik V vaccine in Moscow, despite the vaccine not finishing clinical trials
- First known hippos test positive for COVID-19 at Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, with staff putting Imani (14) and Hermien (41) into isolation
Born on this day
- Carl Ferdinand CoriCzech-American bio-chemist (Nobel 1947-discovery of how glycogen (animal starch) – a derivative of glucose – is broken down and resynthesized in the body, for use as a store and source of energy), born in Prague (d. 1984)
- Milton H. EricksonAmerican psychiatrist and psychologist, born in Aurum, Nevada (d. 1980)
- Hilary KoprowskiPolish virologist and immunologist who developed the first viable polio vaccine, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2013)
- Norishige KanaiJapanese doctor and astronaut
Died on this day
- Gaspard BauhinSwiss botanist who published some of the first works of systemic botany, dies at 64
- Nicolas StenoDanish scientist prominent in anatomy and geology, and later Catholic priest, bishop, and candidate for sainthood, dies at 48
- Alexander AtabekianArmenian physician and anarchist publisher (born 1869)
- Joseph ErlangerAmerican physiologist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1944 - shock therapy), dies of heart disease at 91 (1874-1965)
- Charles EvansBritish mountaineer and surgeon (deputy leader 1953 British Everest expedition, led 1955 British Kangchenjunga expedition), dies at 77