David Hugo Siegfried Annecke (best known as Dr Siegfried Annecke), a medical pioneer in tropical diseases, was the son of Paul Tobias Siegfried Annecke and his wife Elizabeth Johanna, born Ross. After matriculating in 1911 he studied at Grey College, Bloemfontein, and was awarded the BA degree by the University of the Cape of Good Hope in 1914. The next year he continued his studies at the South African College in Cape Town (from 1918 the University of Cape Town) and received the MA degree in physiology in 1918. In 1917 he was appointed temporarily as a student demonstrator in the Department of Anatomy of the College. After graduating he proceeded to London where he qualified as Bachelor of Medicine (MB) and obtained the Diploma in Public Health (DPH). He had a special interest in malaria and was affiliated with the Department of Protozoology of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His research was published in "The relative number of male and female gametocytes in human malaria..." (Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 1927).

In 1928 Annecke joined the Department of Health as a senior pathologist. Two years later professor N. H. Swellengrebel, a malaria expert from the University of Amsterdam, visited South Africa and was accompanied by Botha de Meillon and Annecke on a tour of the Lowveld to assess the malaria situation. Their comprehensive report (Swellengrebel, N. H., Annecke, S. and De Meillon, B. Malaria investigations in some parts of the Transvaal and Zululand. Publications of the South African Institute for Medical Research, 1931) recommended the specific targeting of malaria vector mosquitoes, excluding species not involved in malaria transmission. Swellengrebel also recommended the establishment of a malaria station at Tzaneen, which was established in 1932 and headed by De Meillon for research and Annecke for control. Their painstaking research and extensive field work led to indoor spraying with pyrethrum as a highly effective measure against adult indoor anopheline mosquitoes. Annecke's work in the Transvaal during the nineteen-thirties consisted mainly of teaching the communities in malaria areas to protect themselves through the treatment of all infectious cases, improved housing construction, screening and spraying breeding places such as bodies of open water. Even though malaria epidemics again occurred in 1939 and 1943 large areas of the Transvaal Lowveld and Zululand eventually became available for cultivation and settlement as a result of his efforts. His work was published, in "Malaria control in the Transvaal" (South African Medical Journal, 1935), a Report in malaria control in Transvaal to the Expert Committee on Malaria of the World Health Organization (1950) and other publications. The research station (which he headed until his retirement in 1954) was named the Siegfried Annecke Institute after his death.

After his success in combating malaria Annecke was engaged in the fight against bilharzia and reported on this work in, among others, "Bilharzia in Transvaal" (Public Health, 1955). He was appointed Chief Medical Officer of the Northern Transvaal and during 1949 and 1950 serve as Chief Health Officer in the absence of Dr G. W. Gale. In 1954 the University of Pretoria awarded him an honorary MD degree in recognition of his achievements in the elimination of malaria. He was a person of great determination and initiative and had boundless energy. He was mayor of Tzaneen from 1941 to 1946 and a street in the town was named after him.

List of sources:

Coetzee, M. et al. Malaria in South Africa: 110 years of learning to control the disease. South African Medical Journal, 2013, Vol. 103(10). Retrieved on 20 Septembers 2022 from http://www.samj.org.za/index.php/samj/article/view/7446/5460

Dr David Hugo Siegfried Annecke. Geni. Retrieved on 19 September 2022 from https://www.geni.com/people/Dr-David-Annecke/6000000177996459860

Google scholar. http://scholar.google.co.za/ , publications by S. Annecke.

Küstner, H. Medicine and health services. Lantern, special edition, February 1992, Vol. 41, pp. 90-93.

Malan, M. In quest of health: The South African Institute for Medical Research, 1912-1973. Johannesburg: Lawry Publishers, 1988.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to David Hugo Siegfried Annecke / DHS Annecke.

Ritchie, W. The history of the South African College, 1829-1918. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller, 1918.

Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa (SESA). Cape Town: Nasou, 1970-1976.

Street names in Tzaneen...who were they? Retrieved on 20 September 2022 from https://letabaherald.co.za/34414/street-names-tzaneen/

University of the Cape of Good Hope. Calendar, 1917/8

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2022-09-23 10:48:11