Biomaterial Database

Ronald Ross and the malaria-mosquito cycle. 1999

W F Bynum

Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, UK. w.bynum@wellcome.ac.uk

This essay examines briefly Ronald Ross's research on malaria in India between 1895 and 1899, during which time he elucidated the role of the Anopheles mosquito in the transmission of the disease. During his crucial experimental work in 1898, he used birds, human malaria being relatively uncommon in Calcutta. This article is based largely on the correspondence between Ross and Patrick Manson, which has just been edited.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007194	India	A country in southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and Pakistan. The capitol is New Delhi.	Republic of India
D007303	Insect Vectors	Insects that transmit infective organisms from one host to another or from an inanimate reservoir to an animate host.	Insect Vector,Vector, Insect,Vectors, Insect
D008288	Malaria	A protozoan disease caused in humans by four species of the PLASMODIUM genus: PLASMODIUM FALCIPARUM; PLASMODIUM VIVAX; PLASMODIUM OVALE; and PLASMODIUM MALARIAE; and transmitted by the bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus ANOPHELES. Malaria is endemic in parts of Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Oceania, and certain Caribbean islands. It is characterized by extreme exhaustion associated with paroxysms of high FEVER; SWEATING; shaking CHILLS; and ANEMIA. Malaria in ANIMALS is caused by other species of plasmodia.	Marsh Fever,Plasmodium Infections,Remittent Fever,Infections, Plasmodium,Paludism,Fever, Marsh,Fever, Remittent,Infection, Plasmodium,Plasmodium Infection
D010274	Parasitology	The study of parasites and PARASITIC DISEASES.	Medical Parasitology,Parasitology, Medical
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D000852	Anopheles	A genus of mosquitoes (CULICIDAE) that are known vectors of MALARIA.	Anopheles gambiae
D049672	History, 19th Century	Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era.	19th Century History,19th Cent. History (Medicine),19th Cent. History of Medicine,19th Cent. Medicine,Historical Events, 19th Century,History of Medicine, 19th Cent.,History, Nineteenth Century,Medical History, 19th Cent.,Medicine, 19th Cent.,19th Cent. Histories (Medicine),19th Century Histories,Cent. Histories, 19th (Medicine),Cent. History, 19th (Medicine),Century Histories, 19th,Century Histories, Nineteenth,Century History, 19th,Century History, Nineteenth,Histories, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Histories, 19th Century,Histories, Nineteenth Century,History, 19th Cent. (Medicine),Nineteenth Century Histories,Nineteenth Century History