Sambhu Nath De: UnSung And UnTold

 Sambhu Nath De: Unsung And UnTold

Sambhu Nath De: Another unsung Nambi Narain of India

History celebrates the bold, the bravest. However, only when their efforts get recognised. Among those unfortunates, is India’s unsung, uncelebrated, unrecognised research scientist, Sambhu Nath De. Had it not been for his research work, millions of lives would have been affected by the Cholera toxin. 

Just like Nambi Narain, the Indian scientist who was deprived of his crown, it is high time we talk about another, whose contribution to medicine remains uncelebrated not just by the world, but at home too.  

Sambhu Nath De was born on February 1, 1915, in Garibati village, 30 km away from Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal. During his lifetime he did research on several important subjects, including cholera toxic but remained unappreciated.  On April 15, 1985, at the age of 70, his demise left a black hole in the history of science and research. With his death, a chapter that was never well-read closed too.  

On his death anniversary, here’s a tribute he fittingly deserved. 

Early Life:

De had a humble childhood having grown around his father in his village. He obtained a scholarship and went to Calcutta Medical College in 1935.  In 1939, he started practicing medicine but, his heart was in the research laboratory.  

M.N De,  his father-in-law, and renowned bacteriologist recommended him to Sir Roy Cameron, a famous pathologist. Under the Cameron lab, De completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of London in 1947. 

De and the Blue Plague:

Unlike the black plague, not many knew what the blue plague really was.  Back in 1949, when De returned to India after finishing his studies, he was appointed the Chair of Pathology at the N.R.S Medical College. He started working on the ‘rabbit intestinal loop model’ which helped him break through cholera toxin.

During this time, in West Bengal, hundreds were dying of blue cholera. Working at N.R.S hospital provided De the chance to study the pathogen and research on Cholera. 

Why is De’s research the most important?

In the 19th century, Cholera had killed millions across the Indian subcontinent and Europe. Scientists like Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch started studying and understanding the deadly dehydrating diarrhea disease.  Although they did not succeed much, Koch wrongly claimed that ‘bacillus’, the bacteria was behind cholera. 

According to Koch’s poison theory, cholera bacterium produced an exotoxin that killed the victims. 

However, De did not believe in Koch`s poison theory. He studied and proved that it was Vibrio cholera that produced an exotoxin responsible for cholera patient’s death. 

He was also the first scientist to successfully develop a rabbit model for cholera in which he made a special type of loop in the rabbit’s intestine. Using these loops, he proved to the world that Vibrio cholera produced a type of endotoxin that was responsible for diarrhea in cholera patients. He also explained why cholera often led to dehydration.

It took 75 years to prove this fact. If it weren’t De’s research, it would have taken even more. Plus, millions would have continued to die due to incorrect medication or perhaps no medication at all. 

In the words of Dr. S Sriramachari, former director of the Institute of Pathology and additional director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, De's contributions stand out as a pinnacle of excellence in our understanding of the pathogenesis of cholera.

De and Nobel Prize:

Joshua Lederberg, the Nobel Laureate, who nominated De for the Prize on multiple occasions once said, “De’s clinical observations led him to the bold thought that dehydration was a sufficient cause of pathology of cholera that the cholera toxin can kill ‘merely’ by stimulating the secretion of water into the bowel,”