Pfeiffer, August

Physician, bacteriologist

born: 28.06.1848 in Wiesbaden

died: 17.05.1919 in Wiesbaden

The younger brother of the doctor Emil Pfeiffer studied medicine, obtained his doctorate in 1873 and set up as a general practitioner in Nieder-Walluf in 1874. Shortly afterwards, he moved to Wiesbaden, where he took over the management of the food inspection office. In 1887 he was appointed medical officer (Amtsarzt) of the city and district of Wiesbaden. In 1891, he entered the service of the state of Prussia as a government and medical councillor.

Since the early 1880s, he had been working on bacteriology, microbiology and hygiene, inspired by the research of Robert Koch (1843-1910). In 1885, Pfeiffer was able to prove that the typhoid bacterium was excreted in the stool of patients and that the spread of the infection could only be prevented by adhering to strict hygiene measures. In 1886, Pfeiffer was involved in the investigation of a series of cases of illness and death that had occurred in Gonsenheim and Finthen near Mainz. The disease was Asian cholera, as Pfeiffer discovered due to the presence of so-called comma bacilli.

Pfeiffer recorded his scientific findings in various publications, including the 1892 work "Anleitung zur Vornahme bakteriologischer Wasser-Untersuchungen" and the 1891 publication "Hygiene und Epidemiologie".