Oulfis: found a bit more biographical information... Mycobacterial Diseases is apparently an unreliable journal, but it is only being used to support Wells' birth date and the years he worked at certain universities, not any scientific claims, so that seems ok?
'''William Firth Wells''' (1887–1963) was a scientist, best known for identifying that [[tuberculosis]] could be transmitted through the nuclei of evaporated [[Respiratory droplet|respiratory droplets]], and for the [[Wells curve]] describing what happens to respiratory droplets after they have been expelled into the air.
== Biography ==
Wells was born in Boston in 1887.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> He served in the military during [[World War I]]. He married and had a son, who had [[autism]].<ref name="Riley2001" /> Wells conducted experiments at [[Harvard University]] from 1930 to 1937, and at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1937 to 1944.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1950s, his family lived in a remote part of eastern [[Maryland]]. One of his colleagues, Richard L. Riley, described him as "an eccentric genius."<ref name="Riley2001">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Riley was a medical student at Harvard who became Wells' "lifelong protégé."<ref name=":1" />
In the late 1950s, Wells collapsed, paralyzed from the waist down. After his initial hospitalization, he was transferred to the VA Hospital in Baltimore where he had been overseeing a long-term tuberculosis study. He experienced periods of [[psychosis]] but continued to advise on research when lucid. He died in 1963.<ref name="Riley2001" />
== Research ==
[[File:The_Wells_falling_and_evaporation_curve_of_droplets_(The_Wells_Curve).png|thumb|The Wells curve demonstrates that respiratory droplets rapidly dry out or fall to the ground after being exhaled.]]
=== Droplet nuclei ===
German bacteriologist [[Carl Flügge]] in 1899 was the first to show that microorganisms in droplets expelled from the respiratory tract are a means of disease transmission. The term Flügge droplet was sometimes used for particles that are large enough to not completely dry out.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Flügge's concept of droplets as primary source and vector for respiratory transmission of diseases prevailed into the 1930s until Wells differentiated between large and small droplets.<ref name="William F. Wells">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name="jama">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Wells' major contribution was to show that the nuclei of evaporated droplets can remain in the air for long enough for others to breathe them in and become infected.<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> He developed the Wells curve, which describes how the size of respiratory droplets influences their fate and thus their ability to transmit disease.<ref name="WHO2009"></ref> With Richard L. Riley, he also developed the Wells-Riley equation "to express the mass balance of transmission factors under steady state conditions."<ref name="Donald2018">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
In 1935, Wells demonstrated that [[ultraviolet germicidal irradiation]] (UVGI), which had been used to kill microorganisms on surfaces and in liquids, could also be used to kill airborne infectious organisms. This experiment proved that he had been correct that droplet nuclei could be infectious, and also suggested a route for prevention. In 1935, Wells helped develop UVGI barriers for the Infants' and Children's Hospital in Boston, using cubicle-like rooms subjected to high-intensity UV light to reduce cross-contamination. From 1937 to 1941, Wells implemented a long-term study using upper-room UVGI, that is, UVGI which only sterilized the area above people's heads, allowing the room to be occupied at the time but relying on vertical ventilation to ensure the occupants breathe sterilized air. This study installed upper-room UVGI in suburban Philadelphia schools to prevent the spread of [[measles]]. Wells' 1955 book ''Air Contagion and Air Hygiene'' has been described as the authoritative book on the subject and a "landmark monograph on air hygiene."<ref name=":0" />
=== Tuberculosis ===
Wells first proposed the idea of droplet nucleus transmission of tuberculosis in the 1930s. He demonstrated that rabbits could be infected with bovine TB through droplets.<ref name="Riley2001" />
In 1954, Wells began a long-term experiment to demonstrate that tuberculosis could be transmitted through air. At the VA Hospital in Baltimore, collaborating with Riley, John Barnwell, and Cretyl C. Mills, he built a chamber for 150 guinea pigs to be exposed to air from infectious patients in a nearby TB ward. After two years, they found that an average of three guinea pigs a month were indeed infected. Although this was exactly the rate Wells had predicted, skeptics complained that other methods of transmission (such as the animals' food and water) had not been conclusively ruled out. A second long-term study was begun, this time with a second chamber for an additional 150 guinea pigs, whose air was sterilized with UVGI. The animals in the second room did not become ill, proving that the only transmission vector in the first room was the air from the tuberculosis ward. The study was completed in 1961, and published in 1962, though Wells did not see the final paper.<ref name="Riley2001" />
== Major works ==
* "On Air-Borne Infection." ''American Journal of Epidemiology''. 20 (3): 611–618.
* ''Airborne Contagion and Air Hygiene: An Ecological Study of Droplet Infections''. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press; 1955.
== References ==
== Biography ==
Wells was born in Boston in 1887.<ref name=":1">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> He served in the military during [[World War I]]. He married and had a son, who had [[autism]].<ref name="Riley2001" /> Wells conducted experiments at [[Harvard University]] from 1930 to 1937, and at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] from 1937 to 1944.<ref name=":1" /> In the 1950s, his family lived in a remote part of eastern [[Maryland]]. One of his colleagues, Richard L. Riley, described him as "an eccentric genius."<ref name="Riley2001">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Riley was a medical student at Harvard who became Wells' "lifelong protégé."<ref name=":1" />
In the late 1950s, Wells collapsed, paralyzed from the waist down. After his initial hospitalization, he was transferred to the VA Hospital in Baltimore where he had been overseeing a long-term tuberculosis study. He experienced periods of [[psychosis]] but continued to advise on research when lucid. He died in 1963.<ref name="Riley2001" />
== Research ==
[[File:The_Wells_falling_and_evaporation_curve_of_droplets_(The_Wells_Curve).png|thumb|The Wells curve demonstrates that respiratory droplets rapidly dry out or fall to the ground after being exhaled.]]
=== Droplet nuclei ===
German bacteriologist [[Carl Flügge]] in 1899 was the first to show that microorganisms in droplets expelled from the respiratory tract are a means of disease transmission. The term Flügge droplet was sometimes used for particles that are large enough to not completely dry out.<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Flügge's concept of droplets as primary source and vector for respiratory transmission of diseases prevailed into the 1930s until Wells differentiated between large and small droplets.<ref name="William F. Wells">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name="jama">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Wells' major contribution was to show that the nuclei of evaporated droplets can remain in the air for long enough for others to breathe them in and become infected.<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> He developed the Wells curve, which describes how the size of respiratory droplets influences their fate and thus their ability to transmit disease.<ref name="WHO2009"></ref> With Richard L. Riley, he also developed the Wells-Riley equation "to express the mass balance of transmission factors under steady state conditions."<ref name="Donald2018">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
In 1935, Wells demonstrated that [[ultraviolet germicidal irradiation]] (UVGI), which had been used to kill microorganisms on surfaces and in liquids, could also be used to kill airborne infectious organisms. This experiment proved that he had been correct that droplet nuclei could be infectious, and also suggested a route for prevention. In 1935, Wells helped develop UVGI barriers for the Infants' and Children's Hospital in Boston, using cubicle-like rooms subjected to high-intensity UV light to reduce cross-contamination. From 1937 to 1941, Wells implemented a long-term study using upper-room UVGI, that is, UVGI which only sterilized the area above people's heads, allowing the room to be occupied at the time but relying on vertical ventilation to ensure the occupants breathe sterilized air. This study installed upper-room UVGI in suburban Philadelphia schools to prevent the spread of [[measles]]. Wells' 1955 book ''Air Contagion and Air Hygiene'' has been described as the authoritative book on the subject and a "landmark monograph on air hygiene."<ref name=":0" />
=== Tuberculosis ===
Wells first proposed the idea of droplet nucleus transmission of tuberculosis in the 1930s. He demonstrated that rabbits could be infected with bovine TB through droplets.<ref name="Riley2001" />
In 1954, Wells began a long-term experiment to demonstrate that tuberculosis could be transmitted through air. At the VA Hospital in Baltimore, collaborating with Riley, John Barnwell, and Cretyl C. Mills, he built a chamber for 150 guinea pigs to be exposed to air from infectious patients in a nearby TB ward. After two years, they found that an average of three guinea pigs a month were indeed infected. Although this was exactly the rate Wells had predicted, skeptics complained that other methods of transmission (such as the animals' food and water) had not been conclusively ruled out. A second long-term study was begun, this time with a second chamber for an additional 150 guinea pigs, whose air was sterilized with UVGI. The animals in the second room did not become ill, proving that the only transmission vector in the first room was the air from the tuberculosis ward. The study was completed in 1961, and published in 1962, though Wells did not see the final paper.<ref name="Riley2001" />
== Major works ==
* "On Air-Borne Infection." ''American Journal of Epidemiology''. 20 (3): 611–618.
* ''Airborne Contagion and Air Hygiene: An Ecological Study of Droplet Infections''. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press; 1955.
== References ==
from Wikipedia - New pages [en] https://ift.tt/2ZUu2Md
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment