Denis Parsons Burkitt

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Denis Parsons Burkitt
Denis Parsons Burkitt- Capture.png
Born28 February 1911
Enniskillen
Died23 March 1993 (aged 82)
Gloucester
NationalityUnited Kingdom
Known forBurkitt's lymphoma, Cancer
AwardsCharles S. Mott Prize (1982)
Buchanan Medal (1992)
Fellow of the Royal Society[1]
Scientific career
FieldsSurgeon

Denis Parsons Burkitt, MD, FRCS(Ed), FRS[1] (28 February 1911 – 23 March 1993) was a British surgeon who made significant advances in health, such as the etiology of a pediatric cancer, now called Burkitt's lymphoma, and the finding that rates of colorectal cancer are higher in those who eat limited dietary fibre.

Life and death[]

Burkitt was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland. He was the son of James Parsons Burkitt, a civil engineer. Aged eleven he lost his right eye in an accident. He attended Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and Dean Close School, England. In 1929 Burkitt entered Trinity College, Dublin to study engineering, but believing his evangelical calling was to be a doctor, he transferred to medicine. In 1938 he passed the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh fellowship examinations. On 28 July 1943 he married Olive Rogers.[2]

During World War II, Burkitt served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in England and later in Kenya and Somaliland. After the war, Burkitt decided his future lay in medical service in the developing world and he moved to Uganda. He eventually settled in Kampala and remained there until 1964.

Burkitt was president of the Christian Medical Fellowship and wrote frequently on religious/medical themes. He received the Bower Award and Prize in 1992. He died on 23 March 1993 in Gloucester and was buried in Bisley, Gloucestershire, England.[citation needed]

Scientific contributions[]

Burkitt made two major contributions to medical science related to his experience in Africa.

Burkitt's lymphoma[]

Main article: Burkitt's lymphoma

The first was the description, distribution, and ultimately, the etiology of a pediatric cancer that bears his name, Burkitt's lymphoma.[3]

Burkitt in 1957 observed a child with swellings in the angles of the jaw. "About two weeks later ... I looked out the window and saw another child with a swollen face ... and began to investigate these jaw tumors."[4] "Having an intensely enquiring mind, Burkitt took the details of these cases to the records department ... which showed that jaw tumours were common, [and] were often associated with other tumours at unusual sites"[5] in children in Uganda. He kept copious notes and concluded that these apparently different childhood cancers were all manifestations of a single type of malignancy.[6] Burkitt published A sarcoma involving the jaws of African children.[7] The newly identified cancer became known as "Burkitt's lymphoma". He went on to map the geographical distribution of the tumour. Burkitt, together with Dr. Dennis Wright,[8] published a book titled Burkitt's Lymphoma in April 1970.[9]

Dietary fibre[]

His second major contribution came when, on his return to Britain, Burkitt compared the pattern of diseases in African hospitals with Western diseases. He concluded that many Western diseases which were rare in Africa were the result of diet and lifestyle. He wrote a book, Don't Forget Fibre in your Diet,[10] which became an international bestseller.

Although one study showed that people who eat very low levels of fiber—less than 10 grams per day—had an 18 percent higher risk of colorectal cancer, the more general idea that colon cancer is a fiber deficiency disease is now considered incorrect by some cancer researchers.[11] Nevertheless, research suggests that a diet high in dietary fibre is advised as a precaution against other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.[12] Burkitt had an alternative theory, published in numerous articles and books, that the use of the natural squatting position for defecation protects the natives of Africa and Asia from gastrointestinal diseases.

Publications by Burkitt[]

Academic journals

  • Burkitt, D. P. (1972). "Varicose Veins, Deep Vein Thrombosis, and Haemorrhoids: Epidemiology and Suggested Aetiology". British Medical Journal. 2 (5813): 556–561. doi:10.1136/bmj.2.5813.556. PMC 1788140. PMID 5032782.
  • Burkitt, D. P. (1973). "Some diseases characteristic of modern Western civilization". British Medical Journal. 1 (5848): 274–278. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.5848.274. PMC 1588096. PMID 4568142.
  • Burkitt, D. P. (1981). "Hiatus hernia: Is it preventable?". The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 34 (3): 428–431. doi:10.1093/ajcn/34.3.428. PMID 6259926.

Books

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Epstein, A.; Eastwood, M. A. (1995). "Denis Parsons Burkitt. 28 February 1911 – 23 March 1993". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 41: 88–102. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1995.0006.
  2. ^ "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57333. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ McKinnell, Robert Gilmore; Parchment, Ralph E.; Perantoni, Alan O.; Damjanov, Ivan; Pierce, G. Barry (2006). The biological basis of cancer (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-521-84458-1. OCLC 537382803.
  4. ^ Denis P. Burkitt, "Discovering Burkitt's Lymphoma" in Paul H. Levine, Epstein-Barr Virus and Human Disease (Humana Press 1987) p. xxi
  5. ^ M. Anthony Epstein, "The Origins of EBV Research" in Erle S. Robertson, Epstein-Barr Virus (2005) p. 2
  6. ^ Epstein, "Origins" p. 2
  7. ^ Burkitt, D. (1958). "A sarcoma involving the jaws in African children". The British Journal of Surgery. 46 (197): 218–223. doi:10.1002/bjs.18004619704. PMID 13628987.
  8. ^ Biography Dennis Wright Archived 26 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Burkitt, D. P. (1970). Burkitt's lymphoma. Dennis H. Wright. Edinburgh: Livingstone. ISBN 0-443-00700-4. OCLC 125974.
  10. ^ Burkitt, Denis (1979). Don't forget fibre in your diet: to help avoid many of our commonest diseases. London: Martin Dunitz Ltd. ISBN 978-0-906348-07-9. OCLC 12583461.
  11. ^ Kowalczyk, Liz (14 December 2005). "Doubts cast on fiber's effect on cancer". The Boston Globe.
  12. ^ Park, Y.; Hunter, D. J.; Spiegelman, D.; Bergkvist, L.; Berrino, F.; Van Den Brandt, P. A.; Buring, J. E.; Colditz, G. A.; Freudenheim, J. L. (2005). "Dietary Fibre Intake and Risk of Colorectal Cancer: A Pooled Analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies". JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 294 (22): 2849–57. doi:10.1001/jama.294.22.2849. PMID 16352792.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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