100 years ago, on October 30, 1901, the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was awarded for the first time. It was awarded to bacteriologist and serologist Emil von Behring (1854-1917), who discovered diphtheria and tetanus antitoxin. He was also called the “savior of children” because they benefited from his findings in the 19th century, when many of them died of diphtheria. But many people also owed their lives to him and the tetanus prophylaxis based on his research during World War I.
Behring – Unknown genius
Emil von Behring, the son of a teacher, was born the fifth of thirteen children on March 15, 1854, in Hansdorf, West Prussia. He studied medicine in Berlin, financed by a nine-year military service commitment. In 1889 he moved to Robert Koch’s Hygiene Institute as an assistant, where in 1893 he found a vaccine against diphtheria using various methods developed by Paul Ehrlich.
In 1904 von Behring founded the “Behring Werke” in Marburg. In his own company, he continued his research on tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. He also worked on the subject of milk hygiene. In 1913, von Behring announced the development of a diphtheria vaccine that provided lasting protection. On March 31, 1917, Emil von Behring died in Marburg at the age of 63.
Behring’s serum therapy against diphtheria.
Diphtheria is a highly infectious bacterial disease that begins harmlessly with sore throat and fever. As it progresses, disorders of the heart, kidneys, and liver occur, caused by the poison (toxin) secreted by the bacterial pathogens. At the beginning of the 19th century, diphtheria was the childhood disease with the highest mortality.
In 1883, the causative agent of diphtheria (Corynebacterium diphteriae) was discovered by the German pathologist Edwin Klebs (1834 – 1913). But it was not until 10 years later that the infectious disease could be treated by means of “Behring’s serum therapy.”
