Carlo Francesco Cogrossi (5 July 1682 – 13 January 1769) was an Italian physician who was among the first to suggest the theory of contagium vivum that minute invisible parasitic living organisms were a cause of disease.
Cogrossi was born in Crema, son of Marcantonio of Caravaggio, and studied medicine at the University of Padua where he was influenced by Domenico Guglielmini.
He had been influenced by microscopic examinations, historical knowledge of mange and mites involved which made him suggest that there might be smaller parasites that could cause disease.
[3] Vallisneri however did not accept living microbes as a sole cause of the rinderpest and also suggested that there were poisonous substances or toxins involved.
Cogrossi also wrote De praxi medica promovenda (1714) dealing with medical theories and Nuova giunta al Trattato della china-china (1718) on the action of cinchona bark on blood.