格哈德·阿玛尔·汉生1841—1912

生平

1866年，汉生毕业于皇家腓特烈大学（Royal Frederik's University，今奥斯陆大学）医学院。在奥斯陆的国立医院完成实习后，在罗弗敦群岛担任医师。1868年，他回到卑尔根，与Daniel Cornelius Danielssen合作，开始研究麻风病。

当时麻风病被认为是由先天遗传，或是由瘴气造成。但是在研究之后，汉生认为这是一种疾病，必然有它特殊的成因。1870年至1871年间，汉生至波恩与维也纳旅行，希望能够证实他的假说。1873年，他宣布他在患者的组织，发现了病原体，并认为这就是造成麻风病的病源。但是因为受限于技术，他当时并没办法证实这是一种细菌，他需要更新与更好的显微镜。

1879年，他将病患的组织标本交给阿尔伯特·奈瑟进行研究，奈瑟成功完成染色，在显微镜下观察，证实它是一种细菌，即麻风杆菌，并在1880年发表相关发现。这在当时产生一些争议，虽然汉生是最早提出致病因子假说的人，但是真的发现了病菌本身的人其实是阿尔伯特·奈瑟。汉生为了证实这个致病因子，曾经企图使一名女病患感染麻风病，但是失败。虽然并没有真的造成病人的损害，但这使得汉生失去他在医院中的职位。

从1860年代开始，汉生罹患梅毒。1912年，他死于心脏病。

Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɡæ̂rhɑɖ ɑrˈmæ̀ʉər ˈhɑ̂nsn̩]; 29 July 1841 – 12 February 1912) was a Norwegian physician, remembered for his identification of the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae in 1873 as the etiologic agent of leprosy. His distinguished work was recognized at the International Leprosy Congress held at Bergen in 1909.

Life

Hansen was born in Bergen, Norway, and attended the Bergen Cathedral School. He studied medicine at the University of Christiania (present-day University of Oslo), where he graduated with honors in 1866.

He worked at Rikshospitalet in Christiania (now Oslo) and as a doctor in Lofoten. In 1868 Hansen returned to Bergen to study leprosy while working at Lungegård Hospital with Daniel Cornelius Danielssen, a noted expert.

Leprosy was regarded as largely hereditary or otherwise miasmic in origin. Hansen concluded on the basis of epidemiological studies that leprosy was a communicable disease with a specific cause. In 1870–71 Hansen travelled to Bonn and Vienna to gain the training necessary for him to prove his hypothesis. In 1873, he announced the discovery of Mycobacterium leprae in the tissues of all people with the condition, although he did not identify them as bacteria, and received little support. The discovery was made with a "new and better" microscope.

In 1879 Hansen gave tissue samples to Albert Neisser, who then successfully stained the bacteria and announced his findings in 1880, claiming to have discovered the disease-causing organism. Neisser tried to downplay the assistance of Hansen. Hansen's claim was weakened by his failure to produce a pure microbiological culture in an artificial medium, or to prove that the rod-shaped organisms were infectious. Further, Hansen had attempted to infect at least one female patient with the nodular form of leprosy without consent, and although no damage was caused, the case ended up in court and Hansen lost his post at the hospital. The case helped introduce informed consent for medical research in Norway.

Hansen remained medical officer for leprosy in Norway and it was through his efforts that the leprosy acts of 1877 and 1885 were passed, leading to a steady decline of the disease in Norway from 1,800 known cases in 1875 to just 575 cases in 1901.

Hansen had had syphilis since the 1860s but died of heart disease. He was an atheist.

Women's rights

He was a co-founder and a board member of the Bergen chapter of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, led by his sister, prominent women's rights advocate Amalie Hansen.

Honors

Leprosy Museum (Lepramuseet) at St. Jørgen Hospital in Bergen has been dedicated to Hansen.

Haukeland University Hospital has established Armauer Hansens hus as a research facility operated by the University of Bergen.

In Jerusalem, a 19th-century leprosarium has borne Hansen's name since 1950. It has been reconstructed into an art center while preserving the physician's surname in its title.

Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia under the ministry of Health is named after Hansen. AHRI is a biomedical research institute working in tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, leishmaniasis training, and research.