In times where diseases are spread around like the proverbial wildfire, medical face masks provide much needed coverage for the prevention of such pathogens, and from that humble face mask came variations of it including the now standard N95 face mask which provided enhanced protection as opposed to the conventional white and blue one counterpart.
But little did anyone know that the origins of the face mask dates back to 1879 where a Penangite who goes by the name of Dr. Wu Lien Teh proposed the prototype mask that eventually became the N95 mask. A Cambridge scholar, Dr. Wu Lian was highly regarded for his prowess in the medical field as well as his contributions which secured a nomination for the Nobel Prize in Medicine for 1935. Even though he was from Penang, a great amount of his work actually took place in China, where he was in service to the healthcare in the northern regions during a plague outbreak in 1910.
The bubonic plague has already ravaged some 60,000 people, hence Dr. Wu Lian needed to understand how this epidemic worked by conducting an autopsy on a cadaver of a plague victim. He then found out that the deaths were caused by a pneumonic plague that were transmitted by bodily fluids, rather than flea-infested rates as was the norm back then.
Credits: Wellcome Library
As with all great discoveries, his was marred with skepticism, exacerbated by the fact that his Mandarin was poor. To counter this, Dr. Wu Lian created a mask made out of layers of cotton and gauze in a bid to trap the moisture before entering the human body. Again, his peers took it with a grain of salt. But after test and overcoming the initial rounds of skepticism, Dr. Wu Lian’s mask was actually an effective countermeasure, and could be produced easily and in large quantities, thanks in part to its simple construction and affordable costs.
Thus, the ancestor of the N95 was born, and has been in used in every medical institution ever since. As a result, Dr. Wu was elected to lead the International Plague Conference to eradicate the plague for good. He also placed the infrastructure for a modern healthcare system first before heading back to Malaysia in 1937, where he opened a clinic at Ipoh’s Brewster Road, now known as Jalan Sultan Idris Shah.
Dr. Wu remained in service till he was 80, which he then passed away a year later from a stroke in his home.
A bust dedicated to Dr. Wu Lian Teh. Credits: Pinterest
He is now memorialised both in Malaysia and China, a statue of him erected to honour the man in Harbin Medical University. Apart from that, a road in Ipoh and a neighbourhood in Penang has been changed to bear his name, while a society called the Dr Wu Lien-Teh society was formed to preserve his legacy. Many lessons can be learned here, and the triumphs of this man should be upheld by us, the newer generation to wear these masks and prevent the disease from spreading further.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
