good read for anyone that is bored at the moment..
Born on March 10, 1879 in Penang, Wu Lien-teh moved to London at the age of 17 to study at Emmanuel College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
In 1910, he received instructions from the Foreign Office in Peking to travel to Harbin and investigate a mysterious disease that killed 99.9% of its victims.
The outbreak, known as the Great Manchurian plague, took the lives of some 60,000 people in less than a year.
After performing an autopsy, Wu determined that the responsible pathogen spread through the air and not through flea bites, as many originally speculated.
.
�It�s apocalyptic,?Christos Lynteris, an expert in medical mask history, told the Fast Company. �Unbelievable. It kills 100% of those infected, no one survives. And it kills them within 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms.?br /> .
Wu initiated quarantine measures, arranged disinfection procedures, and sought imperial sanction to cremate those who died from the plague. His greatest contribution, however, was designing a mask that consisted of two layers of gauze enclosing a flat, oblong piece of absorbent cotton.
Wu oversaw the mass production of the masks, which cost $0.025 each.
However, some doctors doubted the protection they offered on the basis of Wu�s perceived ethnicity.
Among them was French doctor Gérald Mesny, who arrived to replace Wu and infamously asked, �What can we expect from a Chinaman??br /> .
Proceeding to work without a mask, Mesny himself contracted the plague and died two days later.
Wu successfully contained the plague in 1911, and again, in 1921 after its recurrence.
For his contributions, he became the first director of the Manchurian Plague Service (1912) and a founding member/president of the Chinese Medical Association (1916-1920). He also became the first Malaysian nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1935.
Wu�s contributions are celebrated in China, where he is known as the �plague fighter?and �father of the public health system.?br /> .
Another Asian man credited for the N95 is Taiwanese scientist and engineer Peter Tsai, who invented the core technology used to produce the respirator�s filter media.
Born on March 10, 1879 in Penang, Wu Lien-teh moved to London at the age of 17 to study at Emmanuel College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
In 1910, he received instructions from the Foreign Office in Peking to travel to Harbin and investigate a mysterious disease that killed 99.9% of its victims.
The outbreak, known as the Great Manchurian plague, took the lives of some 60,000 people in less than a year.
After performing an autopsy, Wu determined that the responsible pathogen spread through the air and not through flea bites, as many originally speculated.
.
�It�s apocalyptic,?Christos Lynteris, an expert in medical mask history, told the Fast Company. �Unbelievable. It kills 100% of those infected, no one survives. And it kills them within 24 to 48 hours of the first symptoms.?br /> .
Wu initiated quarantine measures, arranged disinfection procedures, and sought imperial sanction to cremate those who died from the plague. His greatest contribution, however, was designing a mask that consisted of two layers of gauze enclosing a flat, oblong piece of absorbent cotton.
Wu oversaw the mass production of the masks, which cost $0.025 each.
However, some doctors doubted the protection they offered on the basis of Wu�s perceived ethnicity.
Among them was French doctor Gérald Mesny, who arrived to replace Wu and infamously asked, �What can we expect from a Chinaman??br /> .
Proceeding to work without a mask, Mesny himself contracted the plague and died two days later.
Wu successfully contained the plague in 1911, and again, in 1921 after its recurrence.
For his contributions, he became the first director of the Manchurian Plague Service (1912) and a founding member/president of the Chinese Medical Association (1916-1920). He also became the first Malaysian nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1935.
Wu�s contributions are celebrated in China, where he is known as the �plague fighter?and �father of the public health system.?br /> .
Another Asian man credited for the N95 is Taiwanese scientist and engineer Peter Tsai, who invented the core technology used to produce the respirator�s filter media.
Comment