- Email: [email protected]
Professor Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury
Journal of Hospital Infection (2007) 67, 299e300
www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jhin
OBITUARY
Professor Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury In the late 1970s, hospital microbiologists and infection control officers felt that a forum was needed to discuss hospital infection and a means to publish research. In 1980 Edward Lowbury was a member of the small group that founded the Hospital Infection Society, which was soon followed by publication of the Journal of Hospital Infection. Edward was elected as the Society’s first President and was an editorial adviser to the Journal. Eventually an annual ‘Lowbury’ lecture was set up in honour of his achievements and support for the Society, with a personally signed book of his poems presented to the lecturer. Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury was born in London in 1913, the son of a general practitioner. He attended St Paul’s School and qualified in medicine at Oxford University, completing his studies at the (now) Royal London hospital. He served as a pathologist in the Royal Army Medical Corps mainly in East Africa from 1943 to 1946, and then joined the Common Cold Research Unit, with Drs Dumbell, Lidwell and James Lovelock. In 1949 he followed Leonard Colebrook as Head of Bacteriology at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Burns Research Unit at the Birmingham Accident Hospital. His early studies confirmed Colebrook’s work on the effectiveness of a plenum-ventilated burns dressing room in reducing airborne organisms and infection. With John Babb and others he showed that a protective isolator provided with filtered air significantly reduced pseudomonas infection in burns patients, and that source isolation with filters in the air effluent retained bacteria in the isolator, so that an infected patient could be nursed in an open ward. With the burns surgeons, Douglas Jackson and Jack Cason, he studied topical antibacterial agents in the prevention of infection. Later studies confirmed the effectiveness of topical silver compounds that are still in use today. Another of his interests was clostridial infections and their prevention, and the mechanisms and emergence of 0195-6701/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2007.09.004
antibiotic resistance. He demonstrated an increase in staphylococcal resistance following widespread use of a new antibiotic, and then a decrease in resistance on discontinuing its use in a burns unit. In studies on carbenicillin, the first antipseudomonal penicillin, he reported the emergence of resistance due to a plasmid which also conferred resistance to several other antibiotics. He co-authored Drug Resistance in Clinical Medicine published in 1974 and he presented the prestigious Everett Idris Evans Memorial lecture entitled, ‘Wits versus Genes: The Continuing Battle against Infection’, at the 9th Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association in California in 1977. With Harold Lilly, Edward developed laboratory tests for surgical and hygienic hand disinfection in the 1960s. They compared the effects of a range of antibacterial agents, including hexachlophane, chlorhexidine, povidone iodine and triclosan. The effectiveness of alcoholic solutions in surgical hand disinfection was demonstrated in 1974. These tests formed a basis of the present European Norms. He was also involved with other scientists in the MRC unit, including Chris Lawrence, on wound healing and Rod Jones in the development of an effective pseudomonas vaccine. As hospital-acquired infection became increasingly important in the 1950s, Edward was asked to investigate infection problems in the Midland hospitals. He agreed, on condition that a new laboratory was provided, and that an experimental surgical ward was made available for the study of airborne infection. Thus, the Hospital Infection Research Laboratory was set up in Summerfield Hospital in the grounds of Dudley Road (now City) Hospital and Edward became its first Honorary Director. Graham Ayliffe moved there from Hammersmith hospital in 1964 and their collaboration continued until his retirement in 1979. The work here included prevalence surveys of infection in hospitals, the spread of hospital organisms,
300 mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and the testing and practical use of disinfectants and sterilisers. We also ran courses for all grades of staff, including overseas visitors. In 1965 Edward visited 18 centres in the USA as a World Health Organization Consultant and in subsequent years lectured in many countries around the world. He was a member of national and international committees and was on the editorial board of a number of journals. He chaired the MRC sub-committee on Aseptic Methods in the Operating Suite in 1968, which produced a report of particular interest in introducing wherever possible evidence-based methods for hospital infection studies. He co-authored one of the largest MRC controlled trials in hospital infection on the prevention of infection in hip and knee replacement surgery by means of ultraclean-air systems in operating rooms. He was the author or co-author of another 200 scientific publications, chapters in books and several books, including the nationallyacclaimed book on The Control of Hospital Infection: a practical handbook (1975). Edward was a good raconteur with a sense of humour and his adventures were always entertaining. On one occasion, he left a train at a London underground station. The train departed leaving him alone on the station. All the lights went out and no other train stopped as the station was apparently closed. After considerable difficulty in persuading passers-by that he was locked in, a message from the police eventually got through and a special train stopped for him. A Danish microbiologist, Kirsten Rosendal, once said that if she saw Edward boarding a plane she was always tempted to take the next one in case it failed to reach the correct destination. Outwith microbiology, he wrote poetry and in 1934 won the Newdigate Prize at Oxford. He
Obituary continued writing and giving poetry readings throughout his life. He gave many lectures, including the Keats Memorial Lecture at Guys Hospital in 1973 and received many awards for poetry. He published over 30 books of poetry and in 1990 edited Apollo, an anthology of poems by medical poets to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the BMA. Among his varied lectures, he gave an entertaining seminar on ‘Microbiology in Poetry’ in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Nottingham in 1989 as a pre-Christmas diversion. His 80th birthday was celebrated by the publication, ‘Physic Meet and Metaphysic’. This included his poetry and medical accomplishments as well as containing essays on music by distinguished authors. An expanded edition of his book of poems, ‘Birmingham! Birmingham!’, was issued as part of the city’s centenary celebrations in 1989. He continued to write poems and his last major collection ‘Mystic Bridge’ was published in 1997. He married Alison Young in 1954; they had three daughters, with whom they shared an interest and expertise in classical music. In 1970 he and Alison wrote biographies of Thomas Campion, a poet and physician, and of his father-in-law, Andrew Young. They also edited a centenary edition of Andrew Young’s poems. Edward was an accomplished pianist and a founder member of the Birmingham Chamber Music Society. Well-known musicians, such as Ivor Keyes and John Joubert, set some of his poems to music. He received many awards, including an OBE, an LL.D at Birmingham University, an Honorary DSc at Aston University, Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians, Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and an Honorary Visiting Professorship in Medical Microbiology at Aston University.
www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/jhin
OBITUARY
Professor Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury In the late 1970s, hospital microbiologists and infection control officers felt that a forum was needed to discuss hospital infection and a means to publish research. In 1980 Edward Lowbury was a member of the small group that founded the Hospital Infection Society, which was soon followed by publication of the Journal of Hospital Infection. Edward was elected as the Society’s first President and was an editorial adviser to the Journal. Eventually an annual ‘Lowbury’ lecture was set up in honour of his achievements and support for the Society, with a personally signed book of his poems presented to the lecturer. Edward Joseph Lister Lowbury was born in London in 1913, the son of a general practitioner. He attended St Paul’s School and qualified in medicine at Oxford University, completing his studies at the (now) Royal London hospital. He served as a pathologist in the Royal Army Medical Corps mainly in East Africa from 1943 to 1946, and then joined the Common Cold Research Unit, with Drs Dumbell, Lidwell and James Lovelock. In 1949 he followed Leonard Colebrook as Head of Bacteriology at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Burns Research Unit at the Birmingham Accident Hospital. His early studies confirmed Colebrook’s work on the effectiveness of a plenum-ventilated burns dressing room in reducing airborne organisms and infection. With John Babb and others he showed that a protective isolator provided with filtered air significantly reduced pseudomonas infection in burns patients, and that source isolation with filters in the air effluent retained bacteria in the isolator, so that an infected patient could be nursed in an open ward. With the burns surgeons, Douglas Jackson and Jack Cason, he studied topical antibacterial agents in the prevention of infection. Later studies confirmed the effectiveness of topical silver compounds that are still in use today. Another of his interests was clostridial infections and their prevention, and the mechanisms and emergence of 0195-6701/$ - see front matter doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2007.09.004
antibiotic resistance. He demonstrated an increase in staphylococcal resistance following widespread use of a new antibiotic, and then a decrease in resistance on discontinuing its use in a burns unit. In studies on carbenicillin, the first antipseudomonal penicillin, he reported the emergence of resistance due to a plasmid which also conferred resistance to several other antibiotics. He co-authored Drug Resistance in Clinical Medicine published in 1974 and he presented the prestigious Everett Idris Evans Memorial lecture entitled, ‘Wits versus Genes: The Continuing Battle against Infection’, at the 9th Annual Meeting of the American Burn Association in California in 1977. With Harold Lilly, Edward developed laboratory tests for surgical and hygienic hand disinfection in the 1960s. They compared the effects of a range of antibacterial agents, including hexachlophane, chlorhexidine, povidone iodine and triclosan. The effectiveness of alcoholic solutions in surgical hand disinfection was demonstrated in 1974. These tests formed a basis of the present European Norms. He was also involved with other scientists in the MRC unit, including Chris Lawrence, on wound healing and Rod Jones in the development of an effective pseudomonas vaccine. As hospital-acquired infection became increasingly important in the 1950s, Edward was asked to investigate infection problems in the Midland hospitals. He agreed, on condition that a new laboratory was provided, and that an experimental surgical ward was made available for the study of airborne infection. Thus, the Hospital Infection Research Laboratory was set up in Summerfield Hospital in the grounds of Dudley Road (now City) Hospital and Edward became its first Honorary Director. Graham Ayliffe moved there from Hammersmith hospital in 1964 and their collaboration continued until his retirement in 1979. The work here included prevalence surveys of infection in hospitals, the spread of hospital organisms,
300 mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and the testing and practical use of disinfectants and sterilisers. We also ran courses for all grades of staff, including overseas visitors. In 1965 Edward visited 18 centres in the USA as a World Health Organization Consultant and in subsequent years lectured in many countries around the world. He was a member of national and international committees and was on the editorial board of a number of journals. He chaired the MRC sub-committee on Aseptic Methods in the Operating Suite in 1968, which produced a report of particular interest in introducing wherever possible evidence-based methods for hospital infection studies. He co-authored one of the largest MRC controlled trials in hospital infection on the prevention of infection in hip and knee replacement surgery by means of ultraclean-air systems in operating rooms. He was the author or co-author of another 200 scientific publications, chapters in books and several books, including the nationallyacclaimed book on The Control of Hospital Infection: a practical handbook (1975). Edward was a good raconteur with a sense of humour and his adventures were always entertaining. On one occasion, he left a train at a London underground station. The train departed leaving him alone on the station. All the lights went out and no other train stopped as the station was apparently closed. After considerable difficulty in persuading passers-by that he was locked in, a message from the police eventually got through and a special train stopped for him. A Danish microbiologist, Kirsten Rosendal, once said that if she saw Edward boarding a plane she was always tempted to take the next one in case it failed to reach the correct destination. Outwith microbiology, he wrote poetry and in 1934 won the Newdigate Prize at Oxford. He
Obituary continued writing and giving poetry readings throughout his life. He gave many lectures, including the Keats Memorial Lecture at Guys Hospital in 1973 and received many awards for poetry. He published over 30 books of poetry and in 1990 edited Apollo, an anthology of poems by medical poets to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the BMA. Among his varied lectures, he gave an entertaining seminar on ‘Microbiology in Poetry’ in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Nottingham in 1989 as a pre-Christmas diversion. His 80th birthday was celebrated by the publication, ‘Physic Meet and Metaphysic’. This included his poetry and medical accomplishments as well as containing essays on music by distinguished authors. An expanded edition of his book of poems, ‘Birmingham! Birmingham!’, was issued as part of the city’s centenary celebrations in 1989. He continued to write poems and his last major collection ‘Mystic Bridge’ was published in 1997. He married Alison Young in 1954; they had three daughters, with whom they shared an interest and expertise in classical music. In 1970 he and Alison wrote biographies of Thomas Campion, a poet and physician, and of his father-in-law, Andrew Young. They also edited a centenary edition of Andrew Young’s poems. Edward was an accomplished pianist and a founder member of the Birmingham Chamber Music Society. Well-known musicians, such as Ivor Keyes and John Joubert, set some of his poems to music. He received many awards, including an OBE, an LL.D at Birmingham University, an Honorary DSc at Aston University, Honorary Fellowships of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons and Physicians, Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists and an Honorary Visiting Professorship in Medical Microbiology at Aston University.