ABSTRACT
In 1913, Johannes Fibiger (cf. Clemmesen, 1978) reported the occurrence of papillomas of the stomach in rats infected with Spiroptera, a small parasitic worm. The intermediate host of the parasite was the cockroach. By feeding either cockroaches infested with the worm or the worm itself to rats, Fibiger was able to produce lesions that were interpreted as papillomatous growths of the stomach. In 1927, Fibiger was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work, the first such award for cancer research. Unfortunately, later studies did not bear out Fibiger’s thesis that the stomach lesions were neoplasms but rather indicated that the tumors resulted from the combination of a deficiency of vitamin A in his experimental animals and the infestation by the parasite.
