SCHAUDINN, FRITZ

born Sept. 19, 1871, Rseningken, East Prussia died June 22, 1906, Hamburg German zoologist who, with the dermatologist Erich Hoffmann, in 1905 discovered the causal organism of syphilis, Spirochaeta pallida, later called Treponema pallidum. He is known for his work in the development of protozoology as an experimental science. He earned his doctorate in zoology at the University of Berlin (1894), became a lecturer there in 1898, and in 1904 headed the protozoological laboratory in the Imperial Health Office, Berlin. Schaudinn was the first to differentiate between Entamoeba histolytica, cause of amebic dysentery, and its harmless counterpart, Entamoeba coli. He confirmed (1904) an earlier discovery that hookworm infection occurs through the skin. His studies of human and bird malaria provided clues that facilitated later work on the malarial parasite.