Widal

WIDAL, Fernand (Fernand Widal, b. 1862), famous French pathologist and clinician, professor of the clinic of internal diseases at the Paris Medical Faculty. His doctoral dissertation "Etude sur l'infection puerperale, la phlegmatia alba dolens et l'erysipele" (Paris, 1889) established the role of the streptococcus, which first fixes itself to the walls of veins (in the endothelium), and then penetrates into the blood clot and infects it. He also clarified the course of infection in phlebitis (phlegmasia alba dolens). In 1896, Widal applied the principle of agglutination to the diagnosis of typhoid fever (see Widal's reaction). For many years, this reaction was almost the only laboratory research method in cases of typhoid fever. Later, through the work of Widal and his students, the presence of co-agglutinins in the blood of patients was established, which agglutinate related microorganisms. In 1901, Widal and Sicard established the presence of a specific ambceptor in the blood of typhoid patients, which made it possible to apply the Bordet and Gengou reaction for the diagnosis of typhoid fever. Widal and his students conducted a number of most valuable studies in the field of diseases of the liver, spleen, nutritional and metabolic diseases, and the pathology of hemolytic jaundice were studied. Widal, contrary to the opinion of Gilbert and Chabrol, absolutely denied the role of the spleen in hemolysis; in his opinion, the spleen only bears the consequences of hemolysis, while the transformation of blood pigments into bile pigments occurs in the tissues themselves. In recent years, Widal and his school have studied the phenomena of the so-called "hemoclastic shock." In collaboration with Abrami, Widal established the connection between anaphylaxis and idiosyncrasy. Widal authored a huge number of scientific works, written mainly in collaboration with his students. Among his major works, we mention the collective work edited by him together with Roger, "Nouveau Traite de Medecine", published under the direction of G. Roger, F. Widal, P. Teissier, 22 fasc, Paris, 1920, the publication of which has not yet been completed. Currently, Widal gives clinical lectures at the Parisian Cochin Hospital.