Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine ( Bernhard Nocht Institute für Tropenmedizin (BNI)) is the largest institution for research, health and education in the field of tropical diseases and emerging infections in Germany and Europe. Based in Hamburg .
It is part of the German Federal Ministry of Health and the Hamburg Government Agency for Social Affairs, Family Affairs, Health and the Environment.
Content
- 1 History
- 2 Activities
- 3 Achievements
- 4 References
History
On October 1, 1900, the Institute for Marine and Tropical Diseases was opened in the former administrative building of the Naval Hospital in Hamburg. Bernhard Noht (1857-1945), a naval physician, was appointed superintendent and director of the clinic.
In 1942, the name of the institute was changed to the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Marine and Tropical Diseases in honor of the 85th anniversary of the founder. Since 1990, it bears its current name.
In 2006, a specialized hospital institute hospital was established at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf .
Activities
Research at BNI includes clinical research, epidemiology and disease control, and the biology of pathogens and their carriers and carriers of infection. Currently, the emphasis is on malaria , hemorrhagic viruses, fever , tuberculosis and tissue helminthiases .
The institute has a maximum biosafety level (BSL4) laboratory and a safe insectarium (BSL3) for the treatment of highly pathogenic viruses and infected insects .
Recent outstanding scientific achievements of BNI include the detection of SARS coronavirus and the discovery of a previously unknown stage of development of the malaria parasite in humans.
The Institute's studies have made a significant contribution to achieving national importance and include special laboratory diagnostics of tropical and other rare diseases, suggest close cooperation with the German armed forces on medical care during operations in tropical areas, as well as valuable recommendations for science, industry, politics and the general public.
The Institute collaborates with the University. Kwame Nkrumah ( Ghana ), which has a laboratory complex - Kumasi-Center for collaborative research in tropical medicine.
Today, the Institute has about 400 employees working in Hamburg and Kumasi .
Achievements
- In 1904, the bacteriologist, head of the chemistry department, Gustav Giemsa, created a solution used in Romanovsky-Giemsa staining .
- In 1916, the Brazilian infectious disease specialist Enrique Rocha Lima identified the causative agent of epidemic typhus , which he isolated in pure culture .
- In 1918, Enrique Roche Lima identified Borrelia bacteria as the causative agent of Trench (Volyn) fever .
- In the 1930s, the helminthologist Hans Vogel described the developmental cycle of Opisthorchis felineus . Studied and described in detail the life cycle and etiology of Echinococcus multilocularis . experiment
- 1950 Hans Vogel proved that macaques can be immune to Schistosoma japonicum , which causes schistosomiasis .
- In 1961, H. Vogel described the life cycle of Alveococcus .
- In 1968, Dr. Muller identified the Marburg virus , which causes Marburg hemorrhagic fever .
- 1985 As part of a joint project with American scientists Paul Rax and Clara Tenner-Rat, it was found that in patients infected with HIV , massive replication of the virus occurs in the lymph nodes .
- 2003 Institute virologists identified SARS virus as coronavirus .