Rudolf Kraus

RUDOLF KRAUS (Rudolf Kraus, born 1868), a prominent Viennese bacterologist. As a young physician, K. in Neisser's clinic together with Biddle conducted his first experimental research on the permeability of healthy organs of normal animals (especially kidneys) to microbes. "Uber die Ausscheidung der Mikroorganismen durch die Niere" (Arch. f. d. exp. Path., Vol. XXXVII, 1895-96). Soon "Kraus precipitates" were discovered, which laid the foundation for the doctrine of bacterioprecipitins and precipitins in general. In the field of immunology during the period 1905-10, K. independently discovered anaphylactic shock in dogs, reproduced the phenomenon with peptone, applied barium chloride for prevention, and developed an original Gifttheorie. At the same time, K. began research on experimental typhoid fever, its bacteriotherapy and serotherapy (1908). In 1913, K. went to South America, where in S.-Paulo (Brazil) he founded a bacteriological institute, in which exotic infections (especially so-called Chagas disease) are studied, therapeutic sera are prepared (among them antivenom), and Brazilian microbiologists are trained. Returning to Europe, K. headed the Viennese serotherapeutic institute, where extensive scientific-practical work was carried out, covering almost all questions of infectious pathology and immunology. Many works are devoted to typhoid fever, rabies, snake venom and tbc. In 1925, K. founded the Viennese Microbiological Society, of which he was the first chairman until the beginning of 1929, when he again went to South America at the invitation of the Chilean government. K. is the chief editor and initiator of a number of monumental collective publications, such as: "Handbuch der Technik und Methodik der Immunitatsforschung" (ed. by R. Kraus and C. Levaditi, Vol. I-II and Supplement, Jena, 1908-11); "Handbuch der mikrobiologischen Technik" (ed. by R. Kraus and P. Uhlenhuth, Vol. I-III, Vienna-Wien, 1923-24). K. together with W. Kolle and P. Uhlenhuth is also the editor of the 3rd ten-volume edition of "Handbuch der pathogenen Mikroorganismen" (Jena-Berlin-Wien, from 1927). This guide, which is an exhaustive encyclopedia of modern bacteriology, was founded by W. Kolle and A. Wassermann. Under the editorship of K. the journal "Seuchenbekämpfung" (Vienna, from 1924) is published, devoted to the progress of epidemiology.