Friedrich Wilhelm Felix von Bärensprung

Friedrich Wilhelm Felix von Bärensprung, sometimes Baerensprung, often shortened to Felix von Bärensprung He attended the Köllnische Realgymnasium school, where he showed an early interest in zoology and botany. In 1850, he founded a private medical clinic in Halle.

In 1853 he was appointed chief physician at the syphilis clinic of the Berlin Charité hospital, replacing Gustav Simon following his paralysis due to neurosyphilis,

Work Bärensprung is credited as being the first physician to demonstrate a definite link between herpes zoster and a lesion of the dorsal root ganglion. Subsequently, he identified nine varieties of the disorder, of which he classified according to the nerve involved. In 1854, he provided the first description of tinea cruris, a condition that is sometimes referred to as "Bärensprung's disease" in medical literature.

He introduced the practice of bedside thermometry (at the same time as Ludwig Traube) and the discovery of the Erythrasma fungus also made significant contributions to the field of medicine.

Through this study, Bärensprung contributed to the differentiated diagnosis of sexually transmitted diseases. He also established the dualistic theory of syphilis but his rejection of mercury treatment for syphilis led to controversy.

Bärensprung was in favor of housing projects for the impoverished, and also advocated the creation of day nurseries and children's homes. These measures, he reasoned, were an effective means to stop the spread of epidemics such as tuberculosis and scrofulosis.

Among his written works was Atlas der Hautkrankheiten, an illustrated textbook on skin diseases that was edited and published posthumously by Ferdinand von Hebra in 1867. Although Bärensprung earned significant recognition in the field of dermatology, subsequent evidence has shown that his treatments were flawed, and he inadvertently mistreated his patients and himself.

Selected publications

Medical Beiträge zur Anatomie und Pathologie der menschlichen Haut (1848) - Contributions to the anatomy and pathology of human skin. Der Typhus in Obeschlesien im Jahre 1848 - Typhus in Upper Silesia in the year 1848. Epidemie von exanthemischen Typhus (1849) - Epidemic of mixed-exanthem typhus. Untersuchungen über die Temperaturvehältnisse des Foetus und des erwachsenen Menschen im gesunden und kranken Zustande (1851–52) Ueber die Folge und den Verlauf epidemischer Krankheiten. Beobachtungen aus der medizinischen Geschichte und Statistik der Stadt Halle (1854) - On the pathology of epidemic diseases. Die Gürtelkrankheit (1861) - On shingles. Über hereditäre Syphilis (1864) - On hereditary syphilis.

Entomological Synonymische Bemerkungen. Ueber Hemiptera.Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift Volume 2:79-81 (1858), Neue und seltene Rhynchoten der europäischen Fauna. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 2:188-208, pl. II.(1858) Neue und seltene Rhynchoten der europäischen Fauna. Zweites Stück. Berliner Entomologischer Zeitschrift 3:329-338 (1859) Hemiptera Heteroptera Europae systematice disposita. Berliner Entomologische Zeitschrift 4:1-25 (1860).