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Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas | |
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| Born | July 9, 1879 |
| Died | November 8, 1934 (aged 55) |
| Alma mater | Medical School of Rio de Janeiro |
| Known for | Chagas disease |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Microbiology Medicine |
| Institutions | Instituto Oswaldo Cruz |
| Thesis | Estudos hematológicos no impaludismo (1903) |
| Doctoral advisor | Francisco Fajardo |
Carlos Justiniano Ribeiro Chagas, or Carlos Chagas (Portuguese: [ˈkaʁluz ʒustʃĩniˈɐ̃nu ʁiˈbejɾu ˈʃaɡɐs]; July 9, 1879 – November 8, 1934), was a Brazilian sanitary physician, scientist, and microbiologist who worked as a clinician and researcher. Most well known for the discovery of an eponymous protozoal infection called Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis, he also discovered the causative fungi of the pneumocystis pneumonia. He described the two pathogens in 1909, while he was working at the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, and named the former Trypanosoma cruzi to honour his friend Oswaldo Cruz.
Chagas's work holds a unique place in the history of medicine. Working in primitive conditions, Chagas described in detail a previously-unknown infectious disease, its pathogen, vector (Triatominae), host, clinical manifestations, and epidemiology. Chagas was also the first to discover and illustrate the parasitic fungal genus Pneumocystis, which later became infamous for being linked to pneumocystis pneumonia in AIDS patients.[1]