Microbiology and Immunology

WORLD OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY World Health Organization (WHO)

603

•

species and often used to kill rats; colchicine (1963), a toxic

natural product found in autumn crocus; and lysergic acid

(1954) and reserpine (1956), both psychoactive substances.

Reserpine, a tranquilizer found naturally in the Indian snake

root plant Rauwolfia,was widely used to treat mental illness

and was one of the first genuinely effective psychiatric medi-

cines. In 1960, after four years of work, Woodward synthe-

sized chlorophyll, the light energy capturing pigment in green

plants, and in 1962 he accomplished the total synthesis of a

tetracycline antibiotic.

Total synthesis requires the design and then precise

implementation of elaborate procedures composed of many

steps. Each step in a synthetic procedure either adds or subtracts

chemical groups from a starting molecule or rearranges the ori-

entation or order of the atoms in the molecule. Since it is impos-

sible, even with the utmost care, to achieve one hundred percent

conversion of starting compound to product at any given step,

the greater the number of steps, the less product is obtained.

Woodward and Doering produced approximately a half

a gram of quinine from about five pounds of starting materi-

als; they began with benzaldehyde, a simple, inexpensive

chemical obtained from coal tar, and designed a 17-step syn-

thetic procedure. The 20-step synthesis that led to the first

steroid nucleusrequired 22 lb (10 kg) of starting material and

yielded less than a twentieth of an ounce of product. The best

synthesis schemes thus have the fewest number of steps,

although for some very complicated molecules, “few” may

mean several dozen. When Woodward successfully synthe-

sized chlorophyll (which has an elaborate interconnected ring

structure), for example, he required 55 steps for the synthesis.

Woodward’s close friend, Nobel Laureate Vladimir

Prelog, helped establish the CIBA-Geigy Corporation-funded

Woodward Institute in Zurich, Switzerland, in the early

1960s. There, Woodward could work on whatever project he

chose, without the intrusion of teaching or administrative

duties. Initially, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology had

tried to hire Woodward away from Harvard; when it failed,

the Woodward Institute provided an alternative way of ensur-

ing that Woodward visited and worked frequently in

Switzerland. In 1965, Woodward and his Swiss collaborators

synthesized Cephalosporin C, an important antibiotic. In

1971 he succeeded in synthesizing vitamin B 12 , a molecule

bearing some chemical similarity to chlorophyll, but with

cobalt instead of magnesium as the central metal atom. Until

the end of his life, Woodward worked on the synthesis of the

antibiotic erythromycin.

Woodward, who received a Nobel Prize in 1965, helped

start two organic chemistry journals, Tetrahedron Lettersand

Tetrahedron,served on the boards of several science organi-

zations, and received awards and honorary degrees from many

countries. Some of his many honors include the Davy Medal

(1959) and the Copley Medal (1978), both from the Royal

Society of Britain, and the United States’ National Medal of

Science (1964). He reached full professor status at Harvard in

1950 and in 1960 became the Donner Professor of Science.

Woodward supervised more than three hundred graduate stu-

dents and postdoctoral students throughout his career.

Woodward married Irji Pullman in 1938 and had two

daughters. He was married for the second time in 1946 to

Eudoxia Muller, who had also been a consultant at the

Polaroid Corporation. The couple had two children.

Woodward died at his home of a heart attack on July 8, 1979,

at the age of 62.

See also Biochemical analysis techniques; Biochemistry;

History of the development of antibiotics

WORLDHEALTHORGANIZATION

(WHO)World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the principle inter-

national organization managing public healthrelated issues on

a global scale. Headquartered in Geneva, the WHO is com-

prised of 191 member states (e.g., countries) from around the

globe. The organization contributes to international public

health in areas including disease prevention and control, pro-

motion of good health, addressing diseases outbreaks, initia-

tives to eliminate diseases (e.g., vaccinationprograms), and

development of treatment and prevention standards.

The genesis of the WHO was in 1919. Then, just after

the end of World War I, the League of Nations was created to

promote peace and security in the aftermath of the war. One of

the mandates of the League of Nations was the prevention and

control of disease around the world. The Health Organization

of the League of Nations was established for this purpose, and

was headquartered in Geneva. In 1945, the United Nations

Conference on International Organization in San Francisco

approved a motion put forth by Brazil and China to establish

a new and independent international organization devoted to

public health. The proposed organization was meant to unite

the number of disparate health organizations that had been

established in various countries around the world.

The following year this resolution was formally enacted

at the International Health Conference in New York, and the

Constitution of the World Health organization was approved.

The Constitution came into force on April 7, 1948. The first

Director General of WHO was Dr. Brock Chisholm, a psychi-

atrist from Canada. Chisholm’s influence was evident in the

Constitution, which defines health as not merely the absence

of disease. A definition that subsequently paved the way for

WHO’s involvement in the preventative aspects of disease.

From its inception, WHO has been involved in public

health campaigns that focus on the improvement of sanitary

conditions. In 1951, the Fourth World Health Assembly

adopted a WHO document proposing new international sani-

tary regulations. Additionally, WHO mounted extensive vacci-

nation campaigns against a number of diseases of microbial

origin, including poliomyelitis, measles, diphtheria, whooping

cough, tetanus, tuberculosis, and smallpox. The latter cam-

paign has been extremely successful, with the last known nat-

ural case of smallpox having occurred in 1977. The

elimination of poliomyelitis is expected by the end of the first

decade of the twenty-first century.

womi_W 5/7/03 10:18 AM Page 603