Stefan Ślopek

Stefan Ślopek (1 December 1914 in Skawa near Kraków – 22 August 1995, Wrocław was a Polish scientist specializing in clinical microbiology and immunology. He is the great-grandson of Józef Juraszek Ślopek. He is buried in the Grabiszyński Cemetery in Wrocław.

Education After he had completed his secondary education in Tarnopol, he started his medical studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv, having graduated in May 1939. In 1945, upon presentation of the thesis "O modyfikacji lwowskiej metody serologicznego badania kiły" (On Modification of the Lviv Method of Serologic Examination of Syphilis), he was granted a degree of M.D. at the Faculty of Medicine of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Career In 1948, he was promoted to the rank of associate professor (docent) on the basis of a dissertation within the subject of microbiology and serology. In 1950 he was conferred a title of professor at the Department of Microbiology of the Silesian School of Medicine where he carried on his scientific research and in 1957 got a title of full professor. In 1965 Stefan Ślopek was elected a corresponding member of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and in 1973 as its full member. Stefan Ślopek was an outstanding specialist in the field of clinical microbiology and immunology. Motivated by his great interest in the above-mentioned subjects, as early as before the Second World War, he started working for a branch of the State Department of Hygiene in Lviv and at the same time, under a scientific guidance of Prof. N. Gasiorowski, at the Department of Clinical Microbiology of Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. During World War II (1941–1945), he worked at the Institute for Research on Thyphus in Lviv with Rudolf Weigel as the head and then at its Kraków branch. At that time he was involved in production of sera, vaccines and diagnostic kits. Immediately after the…Citește mai mult

Phage therapy The most detailed publications documenting phage therapy have come from Stefan Ślopek's group at the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Medicine of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wroclaw. Ślopek wrote six papers on phagotherapy in which he discussed the efficiency of bacteriophages against bacterial infections including those caused by multi-resistance mutants. In one paper, Ślopek describes the effect phages had on his patients suffering from sepsis caused by bacterial infections. From 1981 to 1986, five hundred and fifty cases were treated, all aged from 1 to 86. The treatment began with antibiotics; however, they turned out to be inefficient for five hundred and eighteen patients. Therapy began by isolating the phages to form the etiologic agents which were then administered to the patients. The treatment could be taken either orally (phages were given three times a day before eating after the patient had received the necessities to neutralise gastric acids) or locally (application on wounds or cavities of a moist containing phages). Additionally drops of the etiologic serum could be dropped on the eyes. In case the bacteria became resistant the phages were replaced by newly selected phages. All in all, the phage therapy appears to be…Citește mai mult

Awards and recognitions As a distinguished immunologist and microbiologist he held a number of responsible positions in the scientific life of Poland. From 1956 to 1987 he was editor-in-chief of Archivum Immunologiae et Therapiae Experimentalis; from 1962 to 1990 the head and president of the Coordination Committee of the interdisciplinary program “Studies and application of immunologic differentiation of organisms” member of the Presidium of its Wrocław branch; president of the Committee of Immunology; a founding member and the president of the Polish Association of Immunologist (and also its honorary member); a member of the International Union of Oncology and a member of numerous scientific societies; a member of the Presidium and the president of the Medical Sciences of the Central Qualifying Board, the vice-president of the Board, and an honorary member of the Polish Microbiological Society. In 1981, Ślopek became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.