Hideyo Noguchi

Hideyo Noguchi
野口 英世
Born	(1876-11-09)November 9, 1876 Inawashiro, Fukushima, Japan
Died	May 21, 1928(1928-05-21) (aged 51) Accra, Gold Coast
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City, US
Known for	syphilis Treponema pallidum
Scientific career
Fields	bacteriology
Japanese name
Kanji	野口 英世
Hiragana	のぐち ひでよ
Transcriptions Romanization Noguchi Hideyo

Hideyo Noguchi (野口 英世, Noguchi Hideyo, November 9, 1876 – May 21, 1928), also known as Seisaku Noguchi (野口 清作, Noguchi Seisaku), was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist. Most known for his work at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.

Before the Rockefeller Institute, he worked at the University of Pennsylvania and pioneered the modern fields of immunology and serology, laying the foundations for modern antivenoms with his work.

At the Rockefeller Institute, Noguchi broadened our knowledge of syphilis and its diagnosis and the long term understanding of neurosyphilis. His most stable achievement was establishing for the first time that psychosis could be caused by an organic agent after discovering Treponema pallidum in the tissues of a paretic patient. Furthermore, Noguchi demonstrated the homogeneity between a mental and physical disease, having found the conclusive link between patients suffering from tertiary syphilis and the cause of paresis and tabes dorsalis.

In addition to that, Noguchi attempted to develop vaccines. He mistakenly developed vaccine to treat Weil disease intended for yellow fever, but he developed the first effective serum used to treat Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, previously a notoriously lethal disease.

Some of Noguchi's work posthumously has been questioned. His misidentification of yellow fever as a bacteria was not factual and his pure culture of syphilis which was considered irreproducible has been received with skepticism. Both his physical and mental health declined in his later years. Eventually, Noguchi died of yellow fever in Africa on a search for the cause of the same disease.

His discoveries led him to gain international recognition and become one of the first Japanese scientists to gain global acclaim and accolades with his obituary being featured in The New York Times, granted numerous awards from foreign dignitaries, and nominated several times for a Nobel prize in medicine.

Early life

Hideyo Noguchi, whose childhood name was Seisaku Noguchi, was born to a family of farmers in Inawashiro, Fukushima prefecture in 1876. His father was a drunk and his mother Shika worked tirelessly in the fields, providing for her family.

When he was two years old, he was left with his grandmother with poor eyesight and hard of hearing and young Noguchi fell into an irori, a traditional Japanese sunken fireplace. While in the fields, his mother heard his scream. Noguchi suffered a severe burn on his left hand. There was no doctor in the small village, but one of the men examined the boy. "The fingers of the left hand are mostly gone," he said, "and the left arm, the left foot, and the right hand are burned; I don't know how badly."

His mother vowed to do her best for her eldest son even with his disability. In 1883, Noguchi entered Mitsuwa elementary school. Thanks to generous contributions from his teacher Kobayashi and his friends, he was able to receive surgery for his left hand fifteen years after the accident. He was able to recover about 70% functionality. Noguchi was able to win the support of the people around him over the course of his life.

In 1872, Japan introduced an approbation examination for doctors due to the modernization of Japan's medical system from the Meji Restoration. Although, graduates of the Imperial University, one of the most exclusive and elite medical universities, had secured exemption from the medical examination; a path not afforded to Noguchi belonging to the peasant class.

Noguchi saw how modern medicine worked and decided to become a doctor. In 1893, sixteen year old Noguchi became an apprentice to Dr. Kanae Watanabe (渡部 鼎, Watanabe Kanae), the same doctor who had performed the surgery, at his clinic in Wakamatsu . In 1896, he left for Tokyo as he had to receive formal training and prepare for his examination. After one month he passed the written part of his examination. In 1897, Noguchi passed the clinical examinations to practice medicine at twenty years old.

Dr. Watanabe introduced him to Chiwaki Morinosuke at the Takayama Dental College (precursor to the Tokyo Dental College) who took him in as an apprentice. Noguchi found some successes working at the Kitasato Research Institute for Infectious Diseases. Although, he had trouble as his hand was still disfigured and he was one of the sole doctors to not have graduated from the Imperial University, making him an outsider.

In 1898, Noguchi changed his first name to Hideyo after reading a novel by Japanese author Tsubouchi Shōyō about a college student whose character had the same name as him. The character in the story, Seisaku, was an intelligent medical student like Noguchi but became lazy and ruined his life.

Hideyo Noguchi and his mother Shika

In 1899, Noguchi met Simon Flexner during his internship at the Kitasato Institute. Simon Flexner was visiting Japan to see research from Japanese scientists. Noguchi was his translator, being one of a few people who spoke English and Japanese, at the Kitasato Institute. Noguchi expressed his desire to work in the United States to Flexner, and Flexner gave polite words encouragement.

Benefactors and patrons

Young Hideyo Noguchi

Noguchi showed signs of great talent. He had three main benefactors, Sakae Kobayashi, his elementary school teacher and father figure, Kanae Watanabe, the doctor who performed surgery on his hand, and his main benefactor, Morinosuke Chiwaki, who partially funded his travel to the United States. In addition to that, his friend, Hajime Hoshi, who owned a succseful pharmaceutical company in Tokyo, financially support him later in his career.

Early career

Traveling to the United States

In 1900, Noguchi travelled to the United States on the America Maru. In part, motivated by difficulties in obtaining a medical position in Japan as it required expensive schooling. Noguchi experienced discrimination as employers were concerned his hand deformity would discourage patients. He felt moving to the United States would find him more success.

Research on snake venom

Noguchi traveled to Philadelphia in 1901. He surprised Simon Flexner at the University of Pennsylvania begging for a job. Flexner asked Noguchi, "Have you ever studied snake venom?" Noguchi, not having much experience, but determination and seeing researchers at the Kitasato Institute, said, "Yes, sir, I do know a little about it. I'd like the chance to learn more."

On January 4, 1901, Noguchi started his research position under Flexner. He was earning about eight dollars a month, which was not enough to afford living expenses. Flexner had to leave Noguchi alone for three months. Despite his lack of knowledge, Flexner returned to find him having written a 250 page paper on snake venom. Flexner was impressed. He put him under the guidance of Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell. Mitchell and Noguchi wrote a joint research paper in the medical journal for the University of Pennsylvania, Noguchi's first official published research paper.

Both Dr. Mitchell and Noguchi presented their scientific findings before the National Academy of Science in Philadelphia, one of the greatest honors an American scientist could have at the time. Dr. Mitchell spoke during their presentation and Noguchi handled the specimens.

Dr. Mitchell said after their research concluded...

"It is thanks to the great efforts of this young man that I have been able to bring my thirty years of research to their final conclusion."

Although, Mitchell was concerned about his acceptance into larger Western society. During his work, Noguchi complained about the feeding of live rabbits to snakes in cages. He felt this practice cruel but fellow researchers said he was being too sensitive and sentimental.

On July 9, 1907, the University of Pennsylvania awarded Hideyo Noguchi an honorary degree. Dr. Mitchell recommended him for the Carnegie Fellowship. Noguchi became an official researcher and received funding from the Carnegie Institute and National Academy of Science. German researcher Paul Ehrlich wrote to congratulate him.

Noguchi was invited to conduct research at the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen. Noguchi brought a hundred grams of dried rattlesnake venom. His research was on serology and he wrote several papers with fellow bacteriologist, Thorvald Madsen, whose friendship continued late into life and their letters have survived.

French scientist Albert Calmette was the first to produce an antitoxin for venomous snake bites in 1895. Dr. Mitchell had made attempts to produce a serum for rattlesnakes. He was unsuccessful but encouraged his protege. Noguchi and Madsen produced one of the first successful serums and treatment against North American rattlesnakes in 1903. Furthermore, Noguchi was a novel promoter of the use of antivenoms. His research contributed to the major development of the first antivenom for North American rattlesnakes.

Later, Noguchi released a monograph on snake venom in 1909, Snake Venoms: An Investigation of Venomous Snakes with Special Reference to the Phenomena of Their Venoms. The publication contained drawings and several photographs of specimens.

In the preface, it stated,

“No single work in the English language exists at this time which treats of the facts of zoological, anatomical, physiological, and pathological features of venomous snakes, with particular reference to the properties of their venoms."

Career at the Rockefeller Institute

The microscope Hideyo Noguchi used to identify syphilis at the Rockefeller Institute.

In 1904, Noguchi after concluding his work the Staten's Institute was promised a position at the Rockefeller Institute after Simon Flexner approached him. In this period of his career, a fellow research assistant was Frenchman Alexis Carrel, who would go on to win a Nobel Prize in 1912. Eventually, Noguchi would be nominated numerous times for a Nobel Prize but never received one.

Research involving syphilis

In 1905, Treponema pallidum was first identified as the cause of syphilis by Fritz Schaudinn and Erich Hoffmann. In 1906, Noguchi was the first person in the United States to confirm and reproduce the Schaudinn-Hoffmann discovery of the spirochete after sixty days at the Rockefeller Institute.

In 1909, Noguchi refined the Wasserman test, creating his own method, which was adopted as the standard, and he pioneered another method for testing syphilis, known as the butyric acid test, using fluid from the spinal column. Consequently, his contributions made it much easeir to diagnosis syphilis.

One doctor reported using his butyric acid test and finding it more sensitive than the Wassermann test for spinal fluid. He stated Noguchi's attention to detail, “Noguchi had prepared for us all the antigen and ambocepter tests that we used. He also spent about two weeks at our laboratory and helped us materially by making many of the tests."

In 1910, Noguchi published his manuscript, Serum Diagnosis of Syphilis, becoming one of his most popular publications among doctors and physicians and assisting in the diagnosis of syphilis.

Dr. Flexner told him to focus his efforts on obtaining a pure culture of the spirochete. Flexner wrote in his diary, “Once he was started on a problem he would pursue it to the bitter end." Noguchi set up hundreds of tubes for his cultures and used thousands of microscopic slides. In February 1911, Noguchi believed that he had grown a pure culture and wrote to his childhood mentor Kobayashi, “I feel as if I am dancing in heaven." He thought it might lead to eradication of syphilis but other scientists first had to reproduce it.

Wards Island State Hospital, located on an island in the East River, held the New York State Pathologic Institute and was located opposite of the Rockefeller Institute. Staff members at the Rockefeller Institute, Phoebus Levene and James B. Murphy had worked at the Pathologic Institute and were well aware of the problems of patients suffering from paresis. Noguchi collected samples from spinal cords and brains of patients that died from tabes dorsalis or of paresis to determine its relationship to syphilis.

In 1912, Noguchi collected samples from 200 brains and 12 spinal cords from patients. In collboration with J. W. Moore, a psychiatrist at Wards Island, Noguchi discovered the presence of Treponema pallidum in the spinal cord of a patient with tabes dorsalis and paresis. Noguchi demonstrated that an organic agent could trigger psychosis. After his discovery, reportedly his friend and neighbor, Ichiro Hori, said that he bursted in during the middle of the night, dancing and wearing nothing but his underwear, shouting, “I found it! I found it!"

With this discovery, Noguchi's influence went beyond bacteriology. John C. Whiteborn wrote about the history of American psychiatry,

“In the organicist tradition, the outstanding psychiatric achievement as well as the final and conclusive link in the demonstration of the etiologic role of syphilis in general paresis was Noguchi and Moore’s demonstration of the spirochete in the brains of general paretics."

Before his discovery, about 20 percent of the New York State mental hospitals were patients suffering from paresis that led to a patient’s death within five to seven years. Noguchi allowed for these patients to be diagnosed with syphilis. Noguchi proved conclusively that general paresis and tabes dorsalis are late stages of tertiary syphilis of the brain and spinal cords. In 1925, Association of American Physicians granted him its prized Kober Medal.

Hideyo Noguchi at work at his microscope

When interviewed later, Noguchi said,

"All you need is enough test tubes, sufficient money, dedication, and hard work. . . and one more thing, you have got to be able to put up with endless failure."

When compared to a genius, he said, "there was no such thing as genius. There was only the willingness to work three, four, even five times harder than the next man". Dr. Noguchi's name is remembered in the binomial attached to another spirochete, Leptospira noguchii. His pure culture of Treponema pallidum were considered unreproducible.

Unusual research methods

Noguchi was prolific in his lab results. His single year record for numbers of published papers was an unheard of nineteen submitted to journals. Flexner described his work as "superhuman". Noguchi's colleagues complained about his work station covered in cigarette butts. He told his advisors to look at his results, not cigarettes. Colleagues showed concern over his labeling system or lack there of for test tubes, but Noguchi insisted he had it memorized.

Noguchi's perfectionism and stubborness made it difficult to accept help. He washed his own test tubes and grounded his own mixtures. Noguchi said, "I can't allow someone who doesn't know exactly what I'm doing here to interfere." Although, he drew premature conclusions during a presentation of a lecture tour in Europe on the transmission of syphilis to rabbits when had been successful in only one out of thirty-six cases.

Personal life

Marriage and relationships

Ms. Noguchi (Mary Loretta Dardis) taken by Ichiro Hori

Noguchi secretly married Mary Loretta Dardis on April 10, 1912. Both were the same age and came from a background of poverty. Her family were Irish immigrants. Mary, nicknamed Maize, called her husband, Hide. His marriage was kept secret from his family, friends, and boss. Flexner opposed his marriage to an American and thought he should marry someone of Japanese descent. Noguchi worried his marriage would put his promotion at risk because Mary would have to be added to his pension. His marriage was not known to the public, except for a few friends, until his death.

Noguchi and his wife found an apartment at 381 Central Park West. Noguchi was known to turn his kitchen into a laboratory. Often, Mary would read novels as he worked at his microscope in the kitchen. Noguchi would often be caught late at night at the Rockefeller Institute and people would ask him why he was not at home? His usual reply was, "Home? This is my home." Later people assumed he worked so much to escape from his relationship, but through letters, it is revealed how even when Noguchi traveled to South America and Africa, Mary represented a refuge from his work.

Noguchi became close friends with his neighbor, Ichiro Hori, a Japanese painter and photographer. They would play shogi together. Noguchi befriended Hajime Hoshi who had studied at Columbia University, but bonded over both being from Fukushima. Hoshi returned to Japan and started a successful pharmaceutical business in Tokyo. He used Noguchi's name as an advisor for his pharmaceutical company since he had been receiving international recognition, which Hoshi offered to compensate him for, but Noguchi said to give it to his family in Inawashiro.

Return to Japan

Noguchi with medals

He would write often to his mentor, Kobayashi, who granted him permission to call him "father." His childhood mentor encouraged Noguchi to return and establish his career in Japan. In 1912, he told his family that he did not plan to return to Japan.

In a letter from his mother, Shika, who was notably illiterate, but learned to write, “Please come home soon, please come home soon, please come home soon, please come home soon.” His mother worked as a midwife, but did not have much of an income and his family was at risk of losing the family home. Noguchi began sending money every month to his family.

As his mother's health declined, he sailed to visit her on September 5, 1915. At his arrival, Noguchi was flocked with reporters. He saw his mentors Chiwaki and Kobayashi at the Imperial Hotel and presented them with golden watches as gifts. During his trip, he accepted the Imperial Prize. When Noguchi saw his mother, he showed her a photograph of his wife and she approved. Noguchi spent ten whole days with his mother, but had to return to the United States, and this would be the last time he would be back in Japan. In November 1918, his mother Shika died.

Hideyo Noguchi's house in upstate New York

Illness and recovery in the Catskills

In 1917, Noguchi's health had declined and suffered from typhoid fever. Mary called an ambulance since he refused to go to the hospital, but he eventually was brought to Mount Sinai. His friend, Hoshi, financially supported him during his treatment. His fever worsened and those around him feared for his health.

While recovering, Noguchi and his wife took a four-hour train ride to the Glenbrook Hotel in Shandaken located in the Catskills Mountains. The small hamlet with less than a hundred people reminded him of his hometown of Inawashiro and had a local lake similar to his village.

Hideyo Noguchi with friends on his porch in Shandaken

Noguchi decided to purchase approximately two hectares and build a house in Shandaken, becoming one of the largest landowners in the hamlet. He bought it using the money meant for his treatment and bills. The construction was completed around June 15, 1918. Noguchi built his home alongside the Esopus river where he would fish and spend most of his summers in 1918, 1922, and 1925 to 1927. His health dramatically improved.

Hideyo Noguchi using color photography technique autochrome lumière

In 1925, his wife's three brothers came to visit. In addition, Ichiro Hori and some Japanese international students had spent time visiting him in Shandaken.

Hobbies

Noguchi was gifted oil paints from Ichiro Hori and he started painting in Shandaken. He became an avid painter. His paintings hang in the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Museum.

Noguchi was an amateur photographer, and he might have been one of the first color photographs of a Japanese person. He achieved this through using autochrome lumière, an early color photograph technique. He stated this in a letter, dated August 8, 1914, to his childhood mentor, Sakae Kobayashi. It was said that there is no scientific researcher who likes photography more than Noguchi.

Luetin experiment and the antivivisectionists

In 1911 and 1912 at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City, Noguchi was working on a syphilis skin test, which could provide an additional diagnostic procedure to complement the Wassermann test in the detection of syphilis.

Professor William Henry Welch, Board of Scientific Directors at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, urged Noguchi to conduct human trials. The subjects were gathered from clinics and hospitals across New York City. In the experiment, the doctors given the tests injected an inactive product of syphilis, called luetin, under the skin on the upper arm of the patient.

Skin reactions were studied, as they varied among healthy subjects and syphilis patients, based on the disease's stage and its treatment. The lutein test gave a positive reaction almost 100 percent for congenital and late syphilis. While his diagnostic test was effective, it never had a reliable supply from the organism in pure culture form, never yielding practical results. Of the 571 subjects, 315 had syphilis. The remaining subjects were controls; some of which were orphans between the ages of 2 and 18 years. Most were hospital patients being treated for diseases, such as malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis, and pneumonia, and the subjects did not realize they were being experimented on and could not give consent.

Reactions to the Luetin experiment

Critics at the time, mainly from the anti-vivisectionist movement, noted that the Rockefeller Institute violated the rights of vulnerable orphans and hospital patients. There was concern among anti-vivisectionists that the test subjects had contracted syphilis from the experiments, but were proven to be false.

In Dr. Noguchi's defense, Noguchi had performed tests on animals to ensure the safety of the lutein test. Rockefeller Institute business manager Jerome D. Greene wrote a letter to the Anti-Vivisection Society, which had pointed out that Noguchi had tested it on himself and his fellow researchers before administering it.

In a letter to District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, Greene said

"What public institution would not welcome a harmless and painless test which would enable it to decide in the case of every person admitted whether that person was afflicted with a venereal disease or not?"

Much of the information came from newspapers, which did not consult medical professionals. Greene mentioned the steps taken to ensure the sterility. His explanation was considered a demonstration of the care that doctors were taking in research. Dr. Noguchi might have received more criticism due to his race with racist stereotypes being perpetuated. One of these newspaper described him as "the Oriental admirer of the fruits of Western civilization."

In May 1912, the New York Society for the Prevention for Cruelty to Children asked the New York district attorney to press charges against Noguchi, but he declined. Although, none of subjects were infected with syphilis, the Rockefeller Institute did test on patients without consent.

Even though none of the subjects were injured in the experiment, Hideyo Noguchi had committed a wrong, it was 'a wrong without injury'.Albert Leffingwell, a physician, social reformer, and advocate for vivisectionist restrictions, said in response to Jerome D. Greene.

"If insurance could have been given that the luetin test implied no risk of any kind, might not the Rockefeller Institute have secured any number of volunteers by the offer of a gratuity of twenty or thirty dollars as a compensation for any discomfort that might be endured?"

Consensus on informed consent

During Noguchi's experiment, consent in medical science was by no means customary. For instance, some of the fathers of microbiology, Robert Koch, operated medical concentration camps in Africa in 1906 to 1907 to find a cure for sleeping sickness, and ended up blinding some of his patients, and Louis Pasteur experimented on nine-year-old Joseph Meister without a medical license even though it was a success and was suspected to have lied about conducting animal trials.

The United States did not develop sufficient consensus about unethical human experimentation until the late 20th century, which brought about more laws to pass about informed consent and the rights of patients.

Later career

Noguchi still made notable discoveries late in his career. During his trip to Japan, Noguchi was inspired to research Rocky Mountain spotted fever, similar to another disease Tsutsugamushi, where deaths were common among rice planters and farmers in Japan. In 1923, Noguchi made a breakthrough and produced the first antiserum and treatment for Rocky Mountain spotted fever. No notable treatment was known at the time. One of his assistants died during the research. He once said, "Whether I succeed or not is another matter, but the problem is worth trying."

Even with recent breakthroughs, Noguchi showed discontent in his career as noted by his assistant, Akatsu. Noguchi began losing his temper and scolding Akatsu. Outside of the laboratory, he said Noguchi was a different and more open person. He would invite him to restaurants and speak Japanese—something he never did at the Rockefeller Institute.

In a letter to Flexner, he wrote,

"Somehow I cannot manage to find enough time to sit quietly and think over things calmly and reflect upon many things and phases in life. I seem to be chasing something all the time, perhaps an acquired habit or rather the lack of poise".

Noguchi wanted to work on something more of a threat. He might have felt pressure from his boss and his home country to bring respect and honor. Noguchi became more reckless with his behavior. Noguchi accidentally swallowed some bacterial solution from sucking in a pipette infected with jaundice. He washed his mouth out with alcohol but he was doubtful he eliminated the millions of germs.

In 1918, Noguchi traveled throughout Central America and South America working with the International Health Board to conduct research to develop a vaccine for yellow fever, and to research Oroya fever, poliomyelitis and trachoma.

Controversial research on yellow fever

Hideyo Noguchi dissecting a crocodile along the Rio Grande

Noguchi decided to focus on yellow fever, which some of his colleagues had died researching, because of his experience with syphilis and spirochetes. He thought the disease might have been caused by spirochetes, having traveled to Merida, Mexico and seen patients unknowingly with Weil's disease demonstrate symptoms of jaundice, similar to yellow fever, Noguchi identifying it as Leptospira icterohemorrhagiae and mistakingly declaring it the cause of yellow fever.

During his career, whether yellow fever was a virus or a bacteria was a debated topic with viruses having been discovered in 1892. Noguchi worked much of the next ten years to prove his theory that it was from bacteria. He even thought he developed a vaccine against it.

Following the death of British pathologist Adrian Stokes from yellow fever in September 1927, it became increasingly evident that yellow fever was caused by a virus, not by the bacillus Leptospira icteroides, as Noguchi believed. Other scientists unable to repeat his findings, it was questioned. He began preparing to travel to Accra, Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) to study yellow fever and get closer to specimens.

Trip to Lagos and Accra

Hideyo Noguchi (facing backwards) and William Young in Accra

Feeling his reputation was at stake, Noguchi hastened to Lagos to carry out additional research. However, he found the working conditions in Lagos did not suit him. At the invitation of Dr. William Alexander Young, the young director of the British Medical Research Institute, Accra, Gold Coast, he moved to Accra and made this his base in 1927.

However, Noguchi proved a very difficult guest and by May 1928 Young regretted his invitation. Noguchi was secretive and volatile, working almost entirely at night to avoid contact with fellow researchers. Possibly his erratic and irresponsible behavior was caused by the untreated syphilis with which he was diagnosed in 1913, and which may have progressed to neurosyphilis. The diaries of Oskar Klotz, another researcher with the Rockefeller Foundation, describe Noguchi's temper and behavior as erratic and bordering on the paranoid. His methods were haphazard.

Disinfecting Hideyo Noguchi's laboratory in Accra after his death from Yellow Fever

According to Klotz, Noguchi inoculated huge numbers of monkeys with yellow fever, but failed to keep proper records. Noguchi might have believed himself immune to yellow fever, having been inoculated with a vaccine of his own development. His mental state deteriorated as he suffered from neurosyphilis, prone to amnesia and personality changes.

His work was criticized as taking an inaccurate approach for yellow fever that was contradictory to contemporary research. Later it would be understood he had confused yellow fever with leptospirosis, his vaccine was successfully used to treat Weil's disease.

Death

Despite repeated promises to Young, Noguchi failed to keep infected mosquitoes in their secure containers. In May 1928, having failed to find evidence for his theories, Noguchi was set to return to New York after spending six months in Africa, but was taken ill in Lagos. Noguchi boarded a ship to sail home but on May 12 was put ashore at Accra and taken to a hospital. He was diagnosed with yellow fever and after some time, he died on 21 May.

In a letter home, Young states, "He died suddenly noon Monday. I saw him Sunday afternoon – he smiled – and amongst other things, said, “Are you sure you are quite well?" "Quite." I said, and then he said "I don’t understand."

Seven days later, despite exhaustive sterilisation of the site and most particularly of Noguchi's laboratory, Young himself died of yellow fever.

Legacy

Statue of Hideyo Noguchi in Ueno Park

Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Museum

Noguchi was influential during his lifetime. Although, some of his research, including having discovered the causes of polio, rabies, trachoma, and yellow fever, were not able to be reproduced. His finding that Noguchia granulosis causes trachoma was questioned within a year of his death, and overturned shortly thereafter. Alongside his identification of the rabies pathogen because the medium he invented to cultivate bacteria was seriously prone to contamination.

After Noguchi's death in 1928, it would not be until the electron microscope was developed in 1931, which could clearly identify and prove yellow fever was a virus, even though skeptics had started to understand it was earlier. Another Rockefeller Institute researcher said that Noguchi "knew nothing about the pathology of yellow fever" and criticized him for being unwilling to issue retractions for his claims. Critics describe it as flaws inside the Rockefeller Institute's system of peer review.

Noguchi's most famous contribution is his identification of the causative agent of syphilis (the bacteria Treponema pallidum) in the brain tissues of patients with partial paralysis due to meningoencephalitis. Other lasting contributions include the use of snake venom in serums, his development for an antiserum for Rocky Mountain spotted fever, his diagnostics tests, and the identification of the leishmaniasis pathogen and of Carrion's disease with Oroya fever. He published over 200 papers on various infectious diseases, one of the most prolific scientists, and gave lecture tours throughout Europe.

In 1921, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society. Although, his claim to have grown a culture of syphilis though is considered irreproducible.

In the 21st century, the Nobel Foundation archives were opened for public inspection and research. Noguchi was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: in 1913–1915, 1920, 1921 and 1924–1927. Some of Noguchi's prize nominations and work on a pure culture of syphilis and yellow fever received scrutiny.

Selected works

• 1904: The Action of Snake Venom Upon Cold-blooded Animals.

Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution. [OCLC 2377892]

• 1909: Snake Venoms: An Investigation of Venomous Snakes with Special Reference to the Phenomena of Their Venoms.

Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution. [OCLC 14796920]

• 1911: Serum Diagnosis of Syphilis and the Butyric Acid Test for Syphilis.

Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. [OCLC 3201239]

• 1923: Laboratory Diagnosis of Syphilis: A Manual for Students and Physicians.

New York: P. B. Hoeber. [OCLC 14783533]

Honors during Noguchi's lifetime

Noguchi was honored with Japanese and foreign decorations. He received honorary degrees from a number of universities.

The bust of the Japanese scientist and doctor Hideyo Noguchi was inaugurated on June 22, 2018, outside the Crystal Palace in Guayaquil

Noguchi was self-effacing in his public life, and he often referred to himself as "Funny Noguchi" as noted in Times Magazine. When Noguchi was awarded an honorary doctorate at Yale, William Lyon Phelps observed that the kings of Spain, Denmark and Sweden had conferred awards, but "perhaps he appreciates even more than royal honors the admiration and the gratitude of the people."

• Kyoto Imperial University, Doctor of Medicine, 1909.
• Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, 1913 (Denmark).
• Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic, 1913 (Spain).
• Commander of the Order of the Polar Star, 1914 (Sweden).
• Tokyo Imperial University, Doctor of Science, 1914.
• Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, 1915.
• Imperial Award, Imperial Academy (Japan), 1915.
• Central University of Ecuador, 1919, (Ecuador).
• National University of San Marcos, 1920, (Peru)
• Medicine School of Merida, "Doctor Honoris Causa en Medicina y Cirugía", 1920 (México)
• University of Guayaquil, 1919, Ecuador.
• Yale University, 1921, (United States).
• Knight of the Legion of Honour of France, 1924
• Senior fifth rank in the order of precedence, Japanese government, 1925

Posthumous honors

Hideyo Noguchi on the ¥1,000 banknote

The grave of Hideyo Noguchi in Woodlawn Cemetery

Noguchi's remains were returned to the United States and buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.

In 1928, the Japanese government awarded Noguchi the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, which represents the second highest of eight classes associated with the award.

In 1979, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) was founded with funds donated by the Japanese government at the University of Ghana in Legon, a suburb north of Accra.

In 1981, the Instituto Nacional de Salud Mental (National Institute of Mental Health) "Honorio Delgado - Hideyo Noguchi" was founded with founds of the Peruvian Government and the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in Lima - Perú.

Dr. Noguchi's portrait has been printed on Japanese 1000-yen banknotes since 2004. In addition, the house near Inawashiro where he was born and brought up is preserved. It is operated as part of a museum to his life and achievements.

Noguchi's name is honored at the Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Dr. Hideyo Noguchi at the Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán.

A 2.1 km street in Guayaquil, Ecuador downtown is named after Dr. Hideyo Noguchi.

Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

The footstone of Hideyo Noguchi in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York City

The Japanese Government established the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize in July 2006 as a new international medical research and services award to mark the official visit by Prime Minister Jun'ichirō Koizumi to Africa in May 2006 and the 80th anniversary of Dr. Noguchi's death. The Prize is awarded to individuals with outstanding achievements in combating various infectious diseases in Africa or in establishing innovative medical service systems. The presentation ceremony and laureate lectures coincided with the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in late April 2008. In 2009, the conference venue was moved from Tokyo to Yokohama as another way of honoring the man after whom the prize was named. In 1899, Dr. Noguchi worked at the Yokohama Port Quarantine Office as an assistant quarantine doctor.

The Prize is expected to be awarded every five years. The prize has been made possible through a combination of government funding and private donations.

See also

• List of medicine awards
• Max Theiler - completed Noguchi's work, yellow fever vaccine (1926)
• Human experimentation in the United States
• Tōki Rakujitsu - Japanese film

References

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• Flexner, James Thomas. (1996). Maverick's Progress. New York: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-1661-1 (cloth)
• Flexner Simon (1929). "Hideyo Noguchi: A Biographical Sketch". Science. 69 (1800): 653–660. Bibcode:1929Sci....69..653F. doi:10.1126/science.69.1800.653. PMID 17737643.
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• Kita, Atsushi. (2005). Dr. Noguchi's Journey: A Life of Medical Search and Discovery (tr., Peter Durfee). Tokyo: Kodansha. ISBN 978-4-7700-2355-1 (cloth)
• Koide, S S (May 2000). "Hideyo Noguchi's last stand: the Yellow Fever Commission in Accra, Africa (1927-8)". Journal of Medical Biography. 8 (2): 97–101. doi:10.1177/096777200000800413. ISSN 0967-7720. PMID 11042776. S2CID 40772728.
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• Lederer, Susan E. Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995/1997 paperback
• Liu, Pinghui V (September 2004). "Noguchi's contributions to science". Science. 305 (5690): 1565. doi:10.1126/science.305.5690.1565a. PMID 15361606. S2CID 11983110.
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• Misawa, M (1991). "[Dr. Hideyo Noguchi and Hajime Hoshi] (Jpn)". Yakushigaku Zasshi. 26 (2): 113–20. ISSN 0285-2314. PMID 11623303.
• Misawa, M (1991). "[Dr. Hideyo Noguchi and Hajime Hoshi]". Yakushigaku Zasshi. 26 (2): 113–20. ISSN 0285-2314. PMID 11623302.
• Noguerea, J J (October 2007). "Hideyo Noguchi and trachoma (Inawashiro, Japan, 1876--Accra, Ghana, 1928)". Archivos de la Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. 82 (10): 661–2. doi:10.4321/s0365-66912007001000014. ISSN 0365-6691. PMID 17929213.
• Sri Kantha, S. "Hideyo Noguchi's research on yellow fever (1918–1928) in the pre-electron microscopic era", Kitasato Archives of Experimental Medicine, April 1989; 62(1): 1–9.
• Takazoe, Ichiro (October 2002). "[Achievement by Hideyo Noguchi]". Nippon Naika Gakkai Zasshi. 91 (10): 2887–90. ISSN 0021-5384. PMID 12451642.
• Takeda, Yoshifumi (November 2003). "[Great Japanese bacteriologists in the Meiji, Taisho and Showa era]". Nippon Saikingaku Zasshi. 58 (4): 645–55. doi:10.3412/jsb.58.645. ISSN 0021-4930. PMID 14699855.
• "[Hideyo Noguchi--pioneer bacteriologist]". Orvosi Hetilap. 118 (4): 213–5. January 1977. ISSN 0030-6002. PMID 319394.

External links

• Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Legon
• Japanese Government Internet TV: streaming video, "Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize," 2007/04/26 (5 mins.)
• Fukushima Prefecture: "The Dreamer, Hideyo Noguchi," slide show Archived 2015-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Cabinet Office, Government of Japan: Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): Purpose and Description of the Noguchi Prize
• National Diet Library: NDL portrait
• Yomiuri Shimbun: Noguchi -- slightly less than 90% name recognition amongst primary school students in Japan, 2008.