Dr Carlo Urbani, the Italian epidemiologist, did work of enduring value combating infectious illness around the world. He has died at the age of 46 in Bangkok from Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) - the new disease that he had helped to identify.
Carlo was the infectious disease specialist in the World Health Organisation (WHO) office in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi. In late February, he was asked to advise on a case of suspected atypical pneumonia in an American businessman who had been admitted to the city's French hospital.
Immediately, Carlo understood the severity of the syndrome, and was aware of the threat. He advised hospital staff about protective measures, including patient isolation, high-filter masks and double-gowning, not routine measures in Vietnam.
On March 9, Carlo met officials at the ministry of health: he explained the need to isolate patients and to screen travellers, despite the possible harmful effect on Vietnam's economy and image. The WHO's world infectious diseases surveillance system was also informed, leading to the worldwide alert which resulted in a concerted global response.
Thanks to his prompt action, the epidemic was contained in Vietnam. However, because of close daily contact with SARS patients, he contracted the infection. On March 11, he was admitted to hospital in Bangkok and isolated. Less than three weeks later he died.
He was born in Castel-planio to a middle-class family with a strong Catholic background. His mother was headmistress of the primary school, and had served as mayor. His father taught at the Ancona Commercial Navy Institute. Carlo himself was elected a town councillor from 1980 to 1985.
He graduated in medicine from the University of Ancona in 1981, and took a higher degree in infectious diseases three years later. He continued this work at the university, and from 1990 at Macerata Hospital.
He had always been attracted by the challenge of international health. In the late 1980s, he visited Mauritania several times with a group of volunteers to support its ministry of health in parasitic disease control.
While at Macerata, Carlo contacted the WHO, and from 1993 began working with it on temporary assignments in the Maldives, Mauritania and Guinea. In 1995, I went with him to the Maldives: as coordinator of the WHO's parasitic diseases and vector (disease-carrying organism) control team in Geneva, I was able to appreciate his qualities - notably his attitude and dedication - at close quarters.
We worked from sunrise to sunset, ignoring the beaches, tracking the epidemiology of the hookworm (a serious intestinal infection) and training laboratory technicians to test for worms. Over simple evening meals of rice and fish we joked: "Nobody at headquarters is going to believe that we have spent our days in the Maldives poring over faecal samples." In Mauritania, Carlo was the first to document transmission of Schistosoma mansoni, an infection affecting over 200 million people worldwide.
In 1997, Carlo joined Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Switzerland, and worked in Cambodia. MSF had contacted WHO, which was looking for an infectious disease specialist with a background in parasites. Carlo's work led to innovative approaches in the control of Schistosoma mekongi, a parasitic flatworm causing intestinal schistosomiasis, transmitted only on the river Mekong. If left untreated, this serious disease irreversibly damages the liver, causing fibrosis that eventually kills the patient. On the Mekong, Carlo noted rocks that were the natural habitat of tiny snails acting as intermediate hosts of the flatworm. He developed a simple questionnaire for children, asking about rocks where they bathed, to identify schools where pupils needed regular treatment.
This approach reduced the need for costly diagnosis. As a result, children in Cambodia now receive regular treatment to prevent irreversible complications in adulthood.
On his return to Italy, Carlo continued his involvement with MSF, and in 1999 he was appointed president of the Italian section. He was invited to Oslo that year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of MSF. He saw it as rewarding the idea that "health and dignity are indissociable in human beings and that it is a duty to stay close to victims and guarantee their rights".
He began collaborating with the Ivo de Carneri Foundation, named after a noted parasitologist and promoting the control of such diseases in developing countries. He became a member of its scientific committee.
In 2000 he was recruited by the WHO to the Hanoi post, as expert in communicable diseases for Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. He recommended novel approaches for adapting global helminth (parasitic worm) control in areas where foodborne trematodes (such as clonor-chiasis, which affects 7 million people, mostly in Asia) and cestodes are endemic. He also advocated regular treatment of children with praziquantel to prevent cholangiocarcinoma of the liver, a severe form of cancer that is a late complication of untreated clonorchiasis.
His wife Giuliana told me that a few days before falling ill he had argued with her. She was concerned to see him working with patients with such a deadly disease. He said: "If I cannot work in such situations, what am I here for - answering emails, going to cocktail parties and pushing paper?"
He was a passionate photographer, an expert ultra-light airplane pilot, and a good organist. He is survived by his wife, sons Tommaso and Luca, and daughter Maddalena.
· Carlo Urbani, epidemiologist, born October 19 1956; died March 29 2003