This page lists items in the database related to Italian parasitologist Luigi Magaudda-Borzì (b. Messina, Italy, 12 June 1921; d. Messina, Italy, 19 November 1978):
Professor Magaudda- Borzì was the founder and the first Director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology at the University of Messina(from 1967 to 1979). He managed to overcome all the bureaucratic and financial difficulties with his enthusiasm and perseverance, and in just a few years he managed to set up the Institute of Medical Parasitology in Messina, which was located in Via Cesare Battisti. Coming from the school of Professor Di Blasi, a school which was characterized by an absolute scientific rigour, he was one of the few in Italy that had a particular interest in the pathology of the Amoeba and the only one, who, together with Professor Buonomini, managed to maintain in culture a colony (F22) isolated in America from a cerebral abscess. He was also the first doctor to discover the existence of an antigenic relationship between Microbacteria and Leishmania. During these years, parasitic diseases start to become the object of study, and during his lessons, he touched on numerous spheres, including those of Proto-zoology and Ichthyology. His studies on the diagnosis of Anclyostomiasis (or hookworm infestation) for which he created an intradermal method, and for Amebiasis (where he prepared a number of purified antigens of Entamoeba histolytica and carried out research into the biology and the ultra-structure of various species of the class of Entamoeba) and in the sphere of Entomology, with his study on the integrated fight against the domestic fly (Musca domestica). The study of Enteroparasitosis made up a large part of his research, and he was convinced of the importance, both in health and social terms, of this problem, particularly in the south: in fact, he devised a map of the distribution of some of the enterparasitosis throughout the national territory, organizing campaigns for the mass eradication, and information campaigns to help resolve the problem. In 1976 he became Director of the Parasitology Journal that was important on both a national and international level. In November 1978, Professor Magaudda died after a sudden illness.
The Institute of Medical Parasitology, since 1979, is called "istituto Luigi Magaudda". In addition, the professor Antonino Ioli wanted to lay, in the premises of the same Institute, a gravestone in memory of the professor Magaudda where we can read:
‘All'insigne Maestro LUIGI MAGAUDDA è debitore della sua fama questo istituto il quale, dal dì odierno (1 novembre 1979), anche nel Suo nome vuole onorarsi. Sorretto dalla scienza medica, Egli attese nell’Ateneo di Messina alla creazione degli studi di Parassitologia e, Direttore dell’Istituto a cominciare dall’anno 1964, con zelo vigilante prestò la Sua opera, per dare incremento agli studi predetti’.
Photo by Medical Parasitology Magazine