March 10 marks the 142th anniversary of the birth of Wu Lien-teh, a Chinese epidemiologist to whom the creation of the surgical mask to combat the Manchurian plague that hit northwest China in April 1910.
Born into a family of Chinese immigrants in Malaysia, Wu became the first student of Chinese descent to attend the prestigious Cambridge University and receive a Ph.D.
In 1908 he accepted a position as assistant director of the Chinese Imperial Army Medical College. Two years later, given his intellect and remarkable development as a doctor, the Chinese government appointed him to investigate the contagious disease hitherto known as a “lung plague”.
Google Doodle recalls that during his research, Wu convinced his colleagues that it was the disease was transmitted from person to person by air, so everyone started covering their heads with bandages to protect themselves from the plague, but since Wu could not always hold them, it occurred to him to make some sort of “armor” to hold the mask.
Wu made the first surgical mask from cotton and gauze, using layers of fabric to filter the air. Days later, he advised people to use his new invention to protect themselves from the disease.
This invention is today considered the forerunner of the N95 mask, the one all of humanity uses to face Covid-19.
The Chinese epidemiologist worked closely with the government to set up quarantine stations for infected patients in hospitals, restrict travel, apply sterilization techniques and maintain social distance, all of which is carried over to the present in the fight against the coronavirus.
Thanks to your efforts, He managed to stop the effects of the epidemic in just four months and was recognized as a “national hero”.
According to an article in El País commemorating his birth, Wu suggested that the Chinese government convene an international conference to review measures against the disease so that it can be taken into account in the future. Years later, the conference of scientists and epidemiologists from eleven countries resulted in the 1911 International Plague Conference report.
His discovery
Wu performed the first autopsy in China on a woman who had died of the virus, where he concluded the disease was the “lung plague” that could be transmitted through human breath and fluids.
His discovery contradicted the West’s then belief that the plague could only be transmitted by rats or flea bites.
In 1915, the epidemiologist founded the Chinese Medical Association, The oldest and largest non-governmental medical organization in the country.
According to a publication in El País, Wu became the first Malaysian and person of Chinese descent two decades later to be nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his commendable efforts to save the lives of the Chinese people.