Wayne M. Meyers facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wayne Marvin Meyers
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| Born | August 28, 1924 |
| Died | September 12, 2018 (aged 94) Glen Burnie, Maryland, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Juniata College |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicine Chemistry Microbiology Leprosy, Buruli ulcer |
| Institutions | Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington DC Hawaii, Burundi, DRC, |
Wayne Marvin Meyers (August 28, 1924 – September 12, 2018) was an American doctor, scientist, and humanitarian. He was known for his work as a medical missionary. Dr. Meyers helped discover new ways to treat diseases. He also found new germs that cause illnesses. He taught many other scientists and researchers. He was especially famous for his work with Hansen's disease (also called Leprosy), Buruli ulcer, and certain worm diseases.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Wayne Meyers was born on a small farm in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. His family had been farmers for many generations. His father was a farmer and also worked as a carpenter on steamboats. His mother lived on the same farm her whole life.
Wayne went to a local one-room schoolhouse. Later, he attended high school in Saxton, Pennsylvania. In 1941, he started college at Juniata College. There, he studied chemistry and math.
World War II Service
His college studies were stopped by World War II. In 1944, he joined the army. He served in the South Pacific, mainly in the Philippines. He worked as a code-breaker in the 43rd Infantry Division. After the war ended, he went to Japan as part of the Army of Occupation.
Becoming a Doctor
After the war, Wayne returned to Juniata College to finish his chemistry degree. He then worked as a research chemist for U.S. Steel. However, he really wanted to help people. Because of his strong religious beliefs, he thought missionary work might be the best path.
He went to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. There, he realized that medicine was the best way for him to serve others. He went back to Juniata College for a year to study biology. Then, he received a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He earned his master's degree in medical microbiology in 1953 and his PhD in 1955.
Next, he went to medical school at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. To support his family, he taught microbiology and did research while studying to become a doctor. He graduated from medical school in 1959.
Family Life
Wayne Meyers married Esther Kleinschmidt in August 1953. Esther grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo because her parents were missionaries there. Wayne and Esther had four children: Amy, George, Daniel, and Sara.
Medical Missionary Work
After his medical training, Dr. Meyers wanted to do missionary medicine. In 1961, he went to Africa with the American Leprosy Missions.
Working in Burundi
He worked in a hospital in a remote part of Burundi, near the Tanzania border. At that time, Burundi was facing conflict between different groups. There was also a severe famine due to three years of failed crops. Dr. Meyers spent as much time helping with famine relief as he did practicing medicine.
His hospital was the only one for about 50 kilometers. It had 600 patients with leprosy. Many other people with various health problems also came to his small hospital. Leprosy was a huge issue in Burundi, affecting thousands of people. Dr. Meyers used available medicines like sulfones to treat many patients. He also helped care for the physical problems caused by leprosy.
Moving to the Congo
In 1962, Dr. Meyers and his family moved to what was then called Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). They worked in the eastern part of the country, near the Rwenzori Mountains. Here, Dr. Meyers was in charge of a leprosy center with 2,000 to 3,000 patients. Back then, most leprosy patients stayed in hospitals for treatment.
This was a dangerous time in the Congo due to political unrest. A rebellion spread through their area. Because of a daughter's health, Dr. Meyers and his wife left the hospital just before the rebels arrived. They lost all their belongings.
The American Leprosy Missions then moved the family to the Bas-Congo region. This hospital was much larger, with about 450 beds and more doctors. This allowed Dr. Meyers to focus more on leprosy. He helped create a program where leprosy patients were treated in 20 smaller centers outside the main hospital. He regularly visited these centers by car or plane.
Besides leprosy, Dr. Meyers also saw many other diseases. These included Buruli ulcer and streptocerciasis, which later became important parts of his research.
HIV/AIDS in Africa
Dr. Meyers and his family lived in the Bas-Congo from 1965 to 1973. During this time, the HIV/AIDS epidemic was unknown to the world. However, it is now believed that HIV/AIDS was already present in the area. Dr. Meyers and his colleagues saw patients whose symptoms matched what we now know as AIDS. Later, scientists found that some blood samples taken in the Belgian Congo as early as 1959 tested positive for HIV. This shows that HIV/AIDS was present in the region when Dr. Meyers worked there.
Work in Hawaii
In 1973, Dr. Meyers and his family moved to Hawaii. He became a professor at the University of Hawaii. He researched leprosy on the island of Molokai. He also worked with leprosy patients in Pearl City on Oahu and on Molokai. He used the knowledge and samples he collected in Africa to help his patients in Hawaii.
Working with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Dr. Meyers first visited the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in 1961. This was before he went to Africa. He started working with AFIP, sending them samples and studying special patients.
Research in Africa
While in the Congo, Dr. Meyers and his team received a grant from the U.S. Army. They researched sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis) and Buruli ulcer. When the Belgians left the Congo in 1960, sleeping sickness was under control. But by the time Dr. Meyers left in 1973, he and other doctors were seeing hundreds of cases each year.
Work at AFIP
Dr. Meyers joined the staff at AFIP in 1975. His job there was to provide education, consultation, and research. He helped with AFIP's collection of leprosy materials, which is the largest in the world. It has samples from 30,000 to 40,000 leprosy cases.
He also worked on other diseases caused by similar bacteria, like Buruli ulcer. This disease is not well-known in the U.S., but it is a big problem in parts of Africa and Australia. Dr. Meyers also worked on worm diseases (filarial diseases) with the World Health Organization (WHO) Center at AFIP.
Dr. Meyers retired from AFIP in 2005. He continued to work as a visiting scientist until AFIP closed in 2011. He passed away in Maryland in September 2018 at 94 years old.
Discoveries with Filarial Worms
Among the many patients Dr. Meyers helped at the leprosy center, some had skin problems that looked like leprosy. However, these patients did not lose feeling in their skin. Dr. Meyers took small tissue samples from these areas. Working with AFIP, he discovered the adult form of a tiny worm called Mansonella streptocerca.
Leadership Roles
Dr. Meyers held many important leadership positions. He was a chairman and consultant for the American Leprosy Missions (ALM). He was also a consultant for the Leonard Wood Memorial (American Leprosy Foundation). He served as president of the International Leprosy Association. He was also president of the Binford-Dammin Society of Infectious Disease Pathologists.
Work with Buruli Ulcer
In the early 1990s, Dr. Meyers focused more on Mycobacterium ulcerans. This is the germ that causes Buruli ulcer. It is the third most common infection caused by this type of bacteria, after tuberculosis and leprosy. This tiny bacterium makes a poison that causes deep, fast-growing skin sores. It mostly affects children and can be very damaging.
Surgery is often needed to treat Buruli ulcer. The best way to treat it is to remove the infected area and then do a skin graft. In 1992, Dr. Meyers traveled to West Africa. He worked with local doctors and health officials to learn more about the disease there. He also gathered information on leprosy in monkeys.
He then worked closely with Professor Françoise Portaels, a Belgian scientist. Together, they studied how this terrible infection develops. They published 56 major medical studies on Buruli ulcer. Their work led to big improvements in how the disease is diagnosed and treated. Dr. Meyers continued to work as a scientist and doctor even in his last year of life. The last article he worked on about Buruli ulcer was published in January 2018.
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