President Kufuor lauds late biologist

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) Ghanaian President John Kufuor on Wednesday visited the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Museum in Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture. Noguchi, a Japanese microbiologist, died in Ghana in 1928 while conducting research on yellow fever.

The 63-year-old Kufuor praised the scientist for playing a key role in achieving friendly relations between Japan and Ghana.

Kufuor also visited Noguchi's former home, which is next to the museum. The house features the fireplace where Noguchi burned his left hand as an infant, leaving him crippled.

Noguchi succeeded in isolating the spirochete that causes syphilis. He was in Ghana's capital of Accra conducting research on a vaccine and cure for yellow fever when he contracted the disease and died -- an event Kufuor referred to as being part of the country's history.

Noguchi's research facility, the Noguchi Hideyo laboratory, is preserved at the University of Ghana.