science · 23 February 1957 · 67 years ago
death
Died 23 Feb 1957 at age 67 (born 1 Aug 1889).
American physician who developed penicillin treatment of syphilis. He established the Venereal Disease Research Center on Staten Island, N.Y. for the U.S. Public Health Service for laboratory and clinical studies of venereal disease. Studies made with his colleagues clarified the mechanism and rate of penetration into tissues by the spirochete, the microorganism that causes syphilis and also improved diagnostic serologic tests. With an initial supply of penicillin, they confirmed other researchers' work on the efficacy of penicillin in the treatment of sulfonamide-resistant gonorrhea. Mahoney then went further in 1943, to prove that penicillin was highly effective against primary syphilis. He received the Lasker Award (1946) for this work.
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