Eleanor Albert Bliss

One of her earlier contributions to the field of immunology was her isolation of a minute beta hemolytic streptococci in 1934. This would later be classified within the Lancefield group of streptococcus as “Group F”.[3] This was connected to work being done by Rebecca Lancefield at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, that classified 13 different streptococci groups and significantly advanced knowledge on streptococcal diseases.[4]

Perhaps her more well-know scientific legacy is the work Bliss did investigating sulfa drugs. These were drugs that were being developed in the 1930s and earlier to treat bacterial infections. In July 1936, Bliss and her colleague Perrin H. Long attended the Second International Congress of Microbiology where they obtained samples of the new drug Prontosil. Not a year later, they had successfully used Prontosil to treat a child for erysipelas. This success propelled their research forward to treat more streptococcal diseases including streptococcal meningitis. Their work was used to treat the then president's son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.[4]  

In 1937, the S. E. Massengill Company tried to make liquid form of the drug sulfanilamide. They mixed it with a 10% solution of sulfanilamide in diethylene glycol. They called it “Elixir of Sulfanilamide", and distributed it widely. At least 76 people died from this drug specifically because of the diethylene glycol. This disaster led to the United States Congress to enact the Food Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which increased federal regulation over drugs by mandating a market review of the safety of all new drugs.[5]

Following this incidence, Bliss and Long published their book The Clinical and Experimental Use of Sulfanilamide, Sulfapyridine, and Allied Compounds (1939). The book went through the history of sulfanilamide, chemotherapy of experimental bacterial infections, the toxicity and comparative pharmacology of sulfanilamide, the mode of action of sulfanilamide, the clinical use of sulfanilamide (and others), the clinical use of Prontosil and Neoprontosil, as well as the clinical and toxic manifestations of sulfanilamide. The last section of the book served to lessen the fear associated with using these drugs based on fact. Bliss and Long discuss the ways that physicians have come to fear sulfanilamide and its derivatives, and go through the ways in which those fears are unfounded. They say “we think that a realization of the possible toxic effects, based on intelligence rather than fear, is demanded of physicians if a rational therapeutic use is to be made of sulfanilamide and its derivatives. It must be remembered that while the side effects of these drugs are many, relatively few fatalities have been attributed to their use" (266). They go on to say that when used properly, these side effects rarely encounter a fatal outcome.[5]

The sulfa drug work done by Bliss and Long during the 1930s proved itself to be invaluable during the Second World War. It was used extensively throughout the U.S. Armed Forces. Bliss also served as an advisor to the U.S. Army Chemical Corps on defenses against biological weapons.[4]

Due to her extensive contributions to immunology throughout her time at Johns Hopkins University, there is an honorary fellowship dedicated to her. It was established in 1989, two years after her death and is called “The Eleanor Bliss Honorary Fellowship”.[6]