Dr Louis Grant

Names: Paris Findlay Iyana Lawrence

Lakshmi Small

Mikayla Williams

Dejhanique Reid

Khalia Elliot

Mia Mackoy
PROF. LOUIS GRANT, M.D., C.H., M.P.H., DIP
BACT., FAPHA, F.C. PATH, F.A.A.N. (1913-
1993)

A microbiologist and pathologist, Prof. Louis Grant

was affiliated with the University of the West Indies

for 20 years where he achieved the highest academic

honor, being named professor emeritus in

microbiology. Young Louis Grant was surrounded

by science from an early age born in Vere,

Clarendon in 1913, his father worked in a chemical

laboratory at the Appleton Estate. As a student,

Grant showed promise and received the Vere Trust

scholarship to attend Jamaica College. He went on to

Edinburgh University in Scotland and later

specialized in tropical microbiology at the London

School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Prof.

Grant then returned to Jamaica serving his country

as a medical doctor, microbiologist and pathologist.

TUBERCULOSIS

In the 1940s Dr. Grant dreamed of a Jamaica with

less disease and he decided to focus on tuberculosis

a disease then plaguing the island. He asked the

World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF for

a grant to begin an inoculation campaign amongst

Jamaican children. Joined by Dr. Ronald Lampart,

Dr. Grant completed a mass vaccination that is

credited with helping to break the cycle of infection

and halt the spread of the dreaded disease.

Groundbreaking Research on Three Diseases

During the decade of the 1960s, Dr. Grant became a

full professor of microbiology at the University of

the West Indies, Mona. Three diseases came to his

attention. Two affected the island's general

population and one its horse population.

 LEPTOSPIROSIS

In the early 1960s many Jamaicans began to fall ill

with severe fevers. Some, who seemed otherwise

healthy, soon died. Through intensive research Dr.

Grant discovered that this disease was spread

through contact with the urine of infected animals.

Rats were immune to it and therefore major carriers

of the virus. Dr. Grant deduced that rats tend to

urinate after eating in kitchens and in this way,

people would consume food on which rats might

have already urinated. There is no cure for viruses;

the most doctors can do is make the patient

comfortable while the body fights off the infection.

The leptospirosis virus, if not rejected by the body

immediately on contact, would then enter the blood

stream, multiply and possibly lead to death. Dr.

Grant quickly spread the word, cautioning against

rats entering kitchens and the danger of leaving food

exposed. This public education campaign helped

contain the spread of the disease, outbreaks of which

have since been controlled.

EQUINE ENCEPHALITIS

In the mid-1960s, reports of a disease afflicting

horse on the eastern side of the island began to

surface. Prof. Grant instituted quarantine on the

movement of horses, donkeys and mules from that

region. After much laboratory investigation he

discovered that the horses were suffering from a

virus known as equine encephalitis, which could not

be spread to humans but could cause great damage

to Jamaica's horse population. He recommended

further measures for containment, thereby

preventing the spread of the virus and the ruination

of Jamaica's billion-dollar horse industry. He also

acquired a new title the horse savior.

 DENGUE FEVER

In the late 1960s Jamaicans began to suffer from a

strange fever. Dr. Grant identified it as the dengue

virus and concluded after much research that it was

transmitted via the aedes aegypti mosquito the same

mosquito that carries the deadly yellow fever virus.

This led to another public education campaign and

the beginning of a research effort on the study of

arboviruses (viruses spread by blood-sucking

insects) at UWI.
 RETIREMENT/DEATH

In the early 1970s Prof. Grant retired from the

University of the West Indies and moved to Canada.

From 1974 to 1977 he served as the Associate

Medical Officer of Health for the Niagara Regional

Health Unit. From 1977 to 1984, he acted as the

Medical Officer of Health for the Haldimand-

Norfolk Health Unit. Throughout the decade he

spent in Canada, Dr. Grant became an active

member of the Ontario Public Health Association

(OPHA) and the Canadian Public Health

Association (CPHA), a community activist and an

advocate for social justice. He gained increasing

recognition and was eventually able to attract large

measures of funding to fulfil his lifelong dream of

establishing a public health clinic for low-income

Jamaicans. He returned to Jamaica, bringing many

international scientists with him who served at

reduced or no cost. His clinic, The Foundation for

International Self-Help (FISH), opened in Papine in

1985. Prof. Grant died in Jamaica in 1993, leaving

behind a wife and four children and ending a career

that spanned 50 years in public service. He had

authored over 90 scientific publications in

microbiology and public health and received the

Gleaner Special Award and the Pelican Award in

1985. Prof. Grant is remembered as the father of

Jamaican microbiology. In 1996, an award in the

form of a $1000CD scholarship and one-year

membership in OPHA was established by the OPHA

in his Honor. The award supports the postgraduate

education of an individual enrolled in a post-

graduate programme in community or public health.

Dengue (DENG-gey) fever is a mosquito-borne illness that

occurs in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Mild

dengue fever causes a high fever and flu-like symptoms.

The severe form of dengue fever, also called dengue

hemorrhagic fever, can cause serious bleeding, a sudden

drop in blood pressure (shock) and death.

Leptospirosis is a blood infection caused by

the bacteria Leptospira that can infect

humans, dogs, rodents and many other wild

and domesticated animals.