November 03, 2011 <Back to Index>
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Bernardino Ramazzini (3 November 1633 – 5 November 1714) was an Italian physician. Ramazzini
was an early proponent of the use of cinchona bark (from which quinine is derived) in the
treatment of Malaria.
His most important contribution to medicine was his book on
occupational diseases, De
Morbis Artificum Diatriba (Diseases
of Workers). It outlined the health hazards of chemicals, dust,
metals, repetitive or
violent motions, odd postures, and other disease causative agents
encountered by workers in 52 occupations. This
was one of the founding and seminal works of occupational
medicine and
played a substantial role in its development.
He
proposed that physicians should extend the list of questions that
Hippocrates recommended they ask their patients by adding, "What is
your occupation?".
He is often called "the father of occupational medicine". In
regards to malaria,
Ramazzini was one of the first to support the use of the quinine rich
bark cinchona.
Many falsely claimed that quinine was toxic and ineffective, but
Ramazzini recognized its importance. He is quoted, "It [quinine] did
for medicine what gun powder did for war." He
was born in Carpi in 1633. He studied
medicine at the University of
Parma, where his interest in occupational diseases began. He was
appointed to the chair of theory of medicine at University of
Modena in 1682.
He served as professor of medicine at the University of
Padua from
1700 until his death. The first edition of De Morbis was published in
1700 in Modena, the second in 1713 in Padua. He died in Padua in
1714. |