Casimir Davaine, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetCasimir Davaine
French physician
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, Hauts-de-France, France
About Casimir Davaine
- Casimir Davaine (19 March 1812 – 14 October 1882) was a French physician known for his work in the field of microbiology.
- He was a native of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, department of Nord. In 1850, Davaine along with French pathologist Pierre François Olive Rayer, discovered a certain microorganism in the blood of diseased and dying sheep.
- In the diseased blood, Rayer and Davaine observed the bacillus that is known today as Bacillus anthracis, the causative bacterium of anthrax.
- Soon afterwards, Rayer published a description of the bacillus in a paper titled, Inoculation du sang de rate (1850).In 1863 Davaine demonstrated that the bacillus could be directly transmitted from one animal to another.
- He was able to identify the causative organism, but was unaware of its true etiology.
- Later on, German microbiologist Robert Koch investigated the etiology of Bacillus anthracis, and discovered its ability to produce "resting spores" that could stay alive in the soil for a long period of time to serve as a future source of infection.Casimir Davaine is also credited for pioneer work in the study of sepsis (blood poisoning).
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