"Human Toxoplasmosis: Occurrence in Infants as an Encephalomyelitis Verification of Transmission to Animals" (1939), by Abner Wolf et al

In a series of experiments during mid 1930s, a team of researchers in New York helped establish that bacteria of the species Toxoplasma gondii can infect humans [3], and in infants can cause toxoplasmosis, a disease that inflames brains, lungs, and hearts. The team included Abner Wolf, David Cowen, and Beryl Paige. They published the results of their experiment in "Human Toxoplasmosis: Occurrence in Infants as an Encephalomyelitis Verification of Transmission to Animals". Toxoplasmosis is an infection that causes inflammations in the brain (encephalitis), heart (myocarditis), and lungs (pneumonitis). The disease is caused in organisms that consume items contaminated by the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii [4]. The bacteria can transfer from pregnant women to their fetuses during pregnancy [5] (congenitally), and it can lead those fetuses to develop physical deformities and mental disabilities. The 1930s experiments established Toxoplasma gondii as a human pathogen and helped increase research into congenital toxoplasmosis, enabling later researchers to develop measures to prevent against the disease in pregnant women.