1. Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha, known as Vital Brazil, was a Brazilian physician, biomedical scientist and immunologist, known for the discovery of the polyvalent anti-ophidic serum used to treat bites of venomous snakes of the Crotalus, Bothrops and Elaps genera.
Vital Brazil went on to be the first to develop anti-scorpion and anti-spider serums.
Vital Brazil was the founder of the Butantan Institute, a research center located in Sao Paulo, which was the first in the world dedicated exclusively to basic and applied toxicology, the science of venomous animals.
Vital Brazil Mineiro da Campanha was born on April 28,1865, in the town of Campanha, in the state of Minas Gerais, Southeastern of the Empire of Brazil.
Vital Brazil's father gave him this curious name in homage to the country, the state and the city where he was born, as well as from the date, St Vital's Day.
Vital Brazil graduated from the Rio de Janeiro School of Medicine in 1891, working as a technical assistant in the chair of Physiology in order to pay for his tuition and living expenses.
Vital Brazil was attracted by medical research in the growing fields of bacteriology, virology and immunology at the end of the 19th century, which were being fueled by the great discoveries in Europe, by Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich and many others.
In 1896, when he was still working in Botucatu, Vital Brazil became specially interested in snake incidents and began his studies on snake poisoning, keeping a scientific collection of snakes stored in alcohol.
Vital Brazil therefore returned to Sao Paulo in 1897 and accepted a position in the Instituto Bacteriologico de Sao Paulo, under direction of the great Brazilian pathologist and epidemiologist Adolfo Lutz.
Vital Brazil founded the Institute of Hygiene, Serum Therapy and Veterinary Medicine in the city of Niteroi, in 1919, which is called today Vital Brazil Institute.
Vital Brazil carried out scientific travels to Europe in 1904 and 1914 and to 1925 to the United States.
Vital Brazil continued working at the Butantan Institute for several decades until his retirement in 1919.
Vital Brazil died on May 8,1950, celebrated as one of the most important Brazilian scientists ever.
Vital Brazil thus began a series of experimental investigations, and in 1901 he was able to prove that monovalent sera against the Asiatic species were ineffective against South American snakes, and proceeded to develop his first monovalent sera against the most common envenomations in Brazil, those produced by the Bothrops, Crotalus and Elapidae genera.
Vital Brazil is commemorated in the scientific names of four species of South American snakes:.