Octave Gengou

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Octave Gengou

1875-1957

French bacteriologist who with Jules Bordet described the bacterium responsible for causing whooping cough (Pertussis). While working at the Pasteur Institute in Brussels, the two researchers successfully cultured the bacterium in 1906. In 1912 they developed the first whooping cough vaccine by growing Pertussis bacteria, killing them with heat, and mixing them with formaldehyde. The pair's research led to the development of tests for the presence of many disease organisms, including those that cause typhoid fever, tuberculosis, and syphilis (the Wassermann test).