Newsletter 16: What do Ignác Semmelweis and Kilmer McCully have in common

Newsletter 16: What do Ignác Semmelweis and Kilmer McCully have in common?

Dear Customer!

Here's a little reading material to show the importance of homocysteine, pioneered by Kilmer McCully.

Both Kilmer McCully and Ignatius Semmelweis were scientists who were initially ridiculed for their theories, but later received recognition for their work.

Ignác Semmelweis

Ignác Semmelweis was a Hungarian doctor who discovered that hand washing could prevent the spread of puerperal fever in hospitals. He was mocked by his peers and died in a mental hospital. Exactly the year of his death, Louise Pasteur discovered the microorganisms whose existence would later prove Semmelweis right, and today is known as "We call it the "saviour of mothers!

Kilmer McCully

Kilmer McCully was a pathologist doctor who discovered in the 1980s that the heart disease may be caused by high levels of homocysteine in the blood. After proposing the theory, he was expelled from Harvard Medical School and found it difficult to find work.

Later studies in the 1990s (Sally Davies) showed a link between elevated levels of homocysteine and increased risk of stroke, myocardial infarction and thrombosis. And since the 1990s, Samy Selhub has been investigating the role of high homocysteine levels in neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

Both Hungarian and international researchers are continuously investigating the effects of high homocysteine levels. So far, more than 100 mainly cardiovascular diseases or conditions have been identified that are associated with elevated blood homocysteine levels.