Bronisława Fejgin (1883–1943): Forgotten Important Contributor to International Microbiology and Phage Therapy

Abstract

Bronisława Brandla Fejgin was a Polish-born Jewish female physician. Among Fejgin’s numerous articles in the field of microbiology, her later work was almost entirely devoted to phage research. Although not equally famous as the phage pioneers from Western Europe, F.W. Twort and F. d’Herelle, Fejgin’s contribution to phage research deserves proper recognition. Her studies on phages resulted in the publication of numerous original scientific reports. These articles, published mostly in French, constitute an important source of information and expertise on early attempts towards therapeutic use of phages in humans. The interwar period marks the most intense years in Bronisława Fejgin’s research activity, brutally interrupted by her death in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. Her microbiology contributions have not been analyzed so far. Thus, the aim of this article is to fill the existing gap in the history of microbiology and phage therapy.

Keywords

• phage therapy
• antibiotic resistance
• history of medicine
• microbiology
• bacterial viruses
• d’Herelle phenomenon