The Untold Story of Sir Ronald Ross

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

The Untold Story of Sir Ronald Ross Stanton E. Cope, PhD Terminix International • Born May 13, 1857 – Fringe of Indian Himalayas • Oldest of 10 children • Father - BG Sir Campbell Claye Grant Ross • Mother – Matilda Charlotte Elderton Flag of British India Army • “Like all mothers…….(she) was the best in the world…” • 1865 – back to England for school • Proficient in math - natural • Interest in natural history • Age 17 – enrolled in medical school Pope • 1879 – failed to qualify • 1880 – Ship’s Surgeon Shakespeare St Bartholomew’s Hospital Past President Tom Wilmot Milton Campbell Ross Age 19 Rosa Bessie Bloxam Ross - 1902 L to R – Dorothy, Sylvia and Campbell Ross • 1889 – Returned to India • Began to study mosquitoes • Ignorant of the literature • Criticized Laveran’s findings Ross Where the mystery resides… Ronald Ross Patrick Manson • 1894 – year’s furlough, met Patrick Manson • Convinced of Laveran’s observations • Heard Manson’s theory on mosquito transmission • Series of letters between Manson and Ross • Manson kept Ross focused and preached urgency • Both men needed each other for success • Multiple handicaps • “To study Plasmodium…..” • Contaminated water studies • Human malaria parasites in Anopheles • Mosquito Day – August 20, 1897 Laboratory Notebook Mosquito Day Box used by Ross to Hold Mosquitoes Microscope designed by Ross • No human malaria • Malaria life cycle in sparrows and Culex • Experimental career ended in 1899 Ronald and Rosa Ross Ross Memorial - Calcutta Calcutta, 1898 Sir Ronald Ross Ross receives Nobel Prize • Nominated in 1901 • Nominated in 1902 • Three finalists – Ross won! • 7,880 pounds sterling • Swedish King Oscar II Nobel Prize medal Grassi’s Home and Lab Giovanni Battista Grassi Ronald Ross Grave of Sir Ronald Ross That’s All, Folks! .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Mosquitoes, Quinine and the Socialism of Italian Women 1900–1914
MOSQUITOES, QUININE AND THE SOCIALISM OF ITALIAN WOMEN 1900–1914 Malaria qualifies as a major issue of modern Italian history because of the burden of death, suffering and economic cost that it imposed. But it is fruitful to examine its history from a more hopeful, if largely neglected, vantage point. Paradoxically, mal- aria — or rather the great campaign to eradicate it with quinine — played a substantial political role. It promoted the rise of the Italian labour movement, the formation of a socialist aware- ness among farmworkers and the establishment of a collective consciousness among women. In 1900 the Italian parliament declared war on malaria. After a series of vicissitudes, this project achieved final victory in 1962 when the last indigenous cases were reported.1 Italy thus provided the classic example of the purposeful eradication of malaria. The argument here is that the early phase of this campaign down to the First World War played a profoundly subversive role. The campaign served as a catalyst to mass movements by farmworkers, especially women. Three geographical areas were most affected: the rice belt of Novara and Pavia provinces in the North, the Roman Campagna in the Centre, and the province of Foggia in the South. Inevitably, this argument involves the intersection of malaria with two further disasters that befell millions. One was the mis- fortune of being born a farm labourer in a society where serious commentators debated who suffered more — Italian braccianti (farmworkers) in the latter half of the nineteenth century or American slaves in the first.2 The other disaster was the burden of being not only a field hand but also a woman in a nation that Anna Kuliscioff, the most prominent feminist of the period, 1 World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Prevention of the Reintroduction of Malaria in the Countries of the Western Mediterranean: Report on a WHO Meeting, Erice (Italy), 23–27 October 1979 (Geneva, 1979), 5.
[Show full text]
Early History of Infectious Disease 
© Jones and Bartlett Publishers. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION CHAPTER ONE EARLY HISTORY OF INFECTIOUS 1 DISEASE Kenrad E. Nelson, Carolyn F. Williams Epidemics of infectious diseases have been documented throughout history. In ancient Greece and Egypt accounts describe epidemics of smallpox, leprosy, tuberculosis, meningococcal infections, and diphtheria.1 The morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases profoundly shaped politics, commerce, and culture. In epidemics, none were spared. Smallpox likely disfigured and killed Ramses V in 1157 BCE, although his mummy has a significant head wound as well.2 At times political upheavals exasperated the spread of disease. The Spartan wars caused massive dislocation of Greeks into Athens triggering the Athens epidemic of 430–427 BCE that killed up to one half of the population of ancient Athens.3 Thucydides’ vivid descriptions of this epidemic make clear its political and cultural impact, as well as the clinical details of the epidemic.4 Several modern epidemiologists have hypothesized on the causative agent. Langmuir et al.,5 favor a combined influenza and toxin-producing staphylococcus epidemic, while Morrens and Chu suggest Rift Valley Fever.6 A third researcher, Holladay believes the agent no longer exists.7 From the earliest times, man has sought to understand the natural forces and risk factors affecting the patterns of illness and death in society. These theories have evolved as our understanding of the natural world has advanced, sometimes slowly, sometimes, when there are profound break- throughs, with incredible speed. Remarkably, advances in knowledge and changes in theory have not always proceeded in synchrony. Although wrong theories or knowledge have hindered advances in understanding, there are also examples of great creativity when scientists have successfully pursued their theories beyond the knowledge of the time.
[Show full text]
The Forming Process of Fiumicino Giuseppe Strappa, Marta Crognale Dipartimento Di Architettura E Progetto
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Archivio della ricerca- Università di Roma La Sapienza The Forming Process of Fiumicino Giuseppe Strappa, Marta Crognale Dipartimento di Architettura e Progetto. Università degli Studi “Sapienza” di Roma Facoltà di Architettura. Piazza Borghese n. 9. 00186 - Roma E-mail: gstrappa @yahoo.com, [email protected] Keywords: Fiumicino, Portuense, forming process Abstract This work, carried out within the Lettura e Progetto (Lpa) Laboratory of "Sapienza", University of Rome, and based on the “processual” method, proposes the regeneration, through the reading and interpretation of the forming process, of the urban settlement of Fiumicino, on the east coast of Rome. The area was formed by a set of fragmented interventions developed in different phases, with heterogeneous destinations and, apparently, no relation of necessity between them. The site appears mainly linked to the development of illegal buildings that date back to the second postwar period. However, a deeper analysis based on the reading and interpretation of the character of the building fabric, shows the existence of a clear relation of historical continuity between the today town and the territorial structures developed starting from the ancient city of Portus. Through this reading emerges the plan of a town connected to the activities of Porto Canale (Channel Port) in function since XVI Century. From the analysis of the historical cartography appears as a matrix route based on the continuation of the ancient via Portuense was formed in time and developed on the building routes that have resulted. We propose a hypothesis of regeneration in the existing fabric through the densification of routes at higher urban vocation.
[Show full text]
Italian Journal of Prevention, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Medicine This Article Was Published on June 24, 2021, at IJPDTM.IT IJPDTM Vol4
IJPDTM Vol. 4 N°1 2021 Parole chiave: malaria, EDITORIAL Info Authors : plasmodium, 1 Prof. associato Medicina Interna “Sapienza” Università di Roma Specialista in Allergologia-Immunologia Clinica e Malattie Infettive chinino Presidente Onorario del Centro Studi Marche “Giuseppe Giunchi” Giuseppe Luzi 1 NON DIMENTICHIAMO ANGELO CELLI: SCIENZIATO CONTRO LA MALARIA E UOMO CONTRO LA POVERTÀ Una descrizione abbastanza accurata della “possibile” alaria deriva da un termine medioevale della malaria viene anche da Ippocrate, nel V secolo M a.C. In Europa e in Italia in particolare la lotta alla lingua italiana in riferimento all’ aria cattiva (mal aria) che veniva ritenuta la causa della malattia malattia e alla sua diffusione è stato un capitolo conseguente a miasmi liberati da zone paludose. importante nella nostra storia della medicina, sia per Malaria è stata anche definita, per questo motivo, le strette implicazioni sanitarie sia per le significative paludismo. Si tratta di una parassitosi provocata da implicazioni socio-economiche. protozoi del genere Plasmodium. Le forme cliniche della malaria vengono associate a Fra le varie specie di parassita Plasmodium, quattro vari plasmodi: sono le più diffuse. P. vivax, P. ovale → febbre terzana benigna I vettori sono zanzare del genere Anopheles. P. malariae → febbre quartana P. falciparum → febbre terzana maligna, potenzialmente Il quadro clinico è quello di una malattia febbrile mortale. acuta che si manifesta con segni di gravità diversa a seconda della specie infettante. E’ una malattia I plasmodi hanno una fase asessuata nell’uomo antichissima. (ospite intermedio) e una fase sessuata (nella zanzara Anopheles), che è l’ospite definitivo. Documenti assiri, cinesi, indiani descrivono forme morbose coerenti con la clinica della malaria.
[Show full text]
Short History of Malaria and Its Eradica Against the Infection in the Mediterranea Nd Its Eradication in Italy with Short Notes
MEDITERRANEAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES www.mjhid.org ISSN 2035-3006 Review Articles Short History of Malaria and Its Eradication in Italy With Short Notes on the Fight Against the Infection in the Mediterranean Basin Giancarlo Majori Former Director Laboratory of Parasitology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy Correspondence to: Giancarlo Majori, Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie e Immunomediate, Reparto di Malattie trasmesse da vettori e Sanità Internazionale, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299 – 00161 Roma. E-mail: [email protected] Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Published: March 10, 2012 Received: January 28, 2012 Accepted: February 11, 2012 Mediterr J Hematol Infect Dis 2012, 4(1): e2012016, DOI 10.4084/MJHID.2012.016 This article is available from: http://www.mjhid.org/article/view/9990 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract. In Italy at the end of 19th Century, malaria cases amounted to 2 million with 15,000- 20,000 deaths per year. Malignant tertian malaria was present in Central-Southern areas and in the islands. Early in the 20th Century, the most important act of the Italian Parliament was the approval of laws regulating the production and free distribution of quinine and the promotion of measures aiming at the reduction of the larval breeding places of Anopheline vectors. The contribution from the Italian School of Malariology (Camillo Golgi, Ettore Marchiafava, Angelo Celli, Giovanni Battista Grassi, Amico Bignami, Giuseppe Bastianelli) to the discovery of the transmission’s mechanism of malaria was fundamental in fostering the initiatives of the Parliament of the Italian Kingdom.
[Show full text]
A Darkriver. Throughout the Ages. Behind This Discovery, Whose Spirit and Vision, Above All, Whose Perse
7 2 2 SIR RONALD ROSS AND THE EVOLUTION OF MALARIA RESEARCH* MEIR YOELI, M.D. Professor of Preventive Medicine New York University School of Medicine New York, N. Y. O F all the discoveries in the field of medicine which have graced this turbulent century, none have been more arduous or more dramatic than those concerned with malarial fevers, their nature, their mode of transmission, the life cycles of their causative pathogens, and their control. One may speak of this great scientific drama as a war of ioo years; battles won and lost, peaks conquered and abandoned. The campaign still goes on. The heroes and the captains of these battles came from many lands and from different continents; their battle stations were far apart in time and in place: in Constantine, Algeria; in Secunderabad, India; in the Pontine marshes and on the wards of the Spirito Santo Hospital in Rome; in Kharkov, Russia; in Horton, England; in Cairns, Australia; in the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.; in the London School of Tropical Medicine; and in a forest gallery of Katanga in the Congo- discoveries linked together likes arches in a luminous bridge that spans a dark river. Today we commemorate an event in the history of science that had a profound and lasting effect on global public health-a discovery which in its narrowest application illuminated the field of malariology and by its decisive demonstration of the sporogonic cycle of plasmodia in mos- quitoes clearly indicated the road to control. In a wider sense this dis- covery served as a base for assaults upon other insect- and arthropod- borne diseases-the most formidable and destructive foes of mankind throughout the ages.
[Show full text]
Science Vision 17, 33-52 (2017)
Science Vision 17, 33-52 (2017) Available at SCIENCE VISION www.sciencevision.org SCIENCE VISION Historical Research OPEN ACCESS The making of oncology: The tales of false carcinogenic worms K. Lalchhandama Department of Zoology, Pachhunga University College, Aizawl 796001, Mizoram, India Cancer is a disease of antiquity. The Ancient Greeks were familiar with onkos (from Received 23 January 2017 Accepted 15 February 2017 which we have the term oncology)—tumour of all sorts. Hippocrates coined karki- nos and karkinoma, our source of the words cancer and carcinoma. Of a plethora *For correspondence : of carcinogens, parasitic worms (helminths) constitute a considerable health con- [email protected] cern. Three trematodes, Clonorchis sinensis, Opisthorchis viverrini, and Schisto- soma haematobium are now officially classified carcinogens. But the discovery of helminths as cancer-causing agents took wrong turns and marks an inglorious chapter in the history of science. The carcinogenicity of worms, vindicating Rudolf Virchow’s reiztheorie (irritation theory) of cancer origin, was glorified in the scien- tific forefront by Johannes Fibiger in the 1910s. Discovery of a new nematode, which he proudly named Spiroptera carcinoma, and his subsequent demonstration that the parasite could induce stomach cancer in rats, earned Fibiger a retrospec- tive Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1926, and a lasting fame. But not in an appealing way. His achievement did not withstand the test of time. S. carci- noma was annulled as an invalid taxon in zoology—supplanted by Gongylonema neoplasticum—and eventually was branded as a non-carcinogenic agent. Contact us : [email protected] Key words: Gongylonema neoplasticum; helminth; Fibiger; cancer; Nobel Prize.
[Show full text]
Clifford Dobell and the Making of Paul De Kruif's Microbe Hunters
Medical History, 2010, 54: 529–536 Clifford Dobell and the Making of CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by PubMed Central Paul de Kruif’s Microbe Hunters JAN PETER VERHAVE* While researching the activities of Paul de Kruif, an American microbiologist and medical science journalist,1 I came across some previously unknown correspondence of interest for the history of malaria research and of the history of medicine generally. It sheds new light on the origin of De Kruif’s book Microbe hunters and more particularly on his description of the discovery of the transmission of malaria parasites by mosquitoes. The letters were written by Clifford Dobell, a British protozoologist, to his friend Paul de Kruif.2 They triggered a little-known sequel to the priority battle between the two discoverers of the transmission of malaria parasites, Ronald Ross and Giovanni Battista Grassi. Colleagues and Friends Before earning his living from writing, Paul de Kruif (1890–1971) had carried out front- line bacteriological research at Michigan University, as a US medical corps officer during the First World War in France, and thereafter at the Rockefeller Institute, New York. He chose, however, to become a writer and, specifically, a science journalist. One of the reasons was his dissatisfaction with the unscientific and arrogant attitude of the American medical profession in general. It resulted in a rather critical book Our medicine men (1922) that cost him his position as a researcher. The next episode in his career was the collaboration with Sinclair Lewis on Arrowsmith (1925), a medical novel.
[Show full text]
Download Download
MEDITERRANEAN JOURNAL OF HEMATOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES www.mjhid.org ISSN 2035-3006 Review Articles Short History of Malaria and its Eradication in Italy with Short Notes on the Fight against the Infection in the Mediterranean Basin Giancarlo Majori Former Director Laboratory of Parasitology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma, Italy Correspondence to: Giancarlo Majori, Dipartimento di Malattie Infettive, Parassitarie e Immunomediate, Reparto di Malattie trasmesse da vettori e Sanità Internazionale, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena, 299 – 00161 Roma. E-mail: [email protected] Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Published: March 10, 2012 Received: January 28, 2012 Accepted: February 11, 2012 Citation: Mediterr J Hematol Infect Dis 2012, 4(1): e2012016, DOI: 10.4084/MJHID.2012.016 This article is available from: http://www.mjhid.org/article/view/9990 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract. In Italy at the end of 19th Century, malaria cases amounted to 2 million with 15,000- 20,000 deaths per year. Malignant tertian malaria was present in Central-Southern areas and in the islands. Early in the 20th Century, the most important act of the Italian Parliament was the approval of laws regulating the production and free distribution of quinine and the promotion of measures aiming at the reduction of the larval breeding places of Anopheline vectors. The contribution from the Italian School of Malariology (Camillo Golgi, Ettore Marchiafava, Angelo Celli, Giovanni Battista Grassi, Amico Bignami, Giuseppe Bastianelli) to the discovery of the transmission’s mechanism of malaria was fundamental in fostering the initiatives of the Parliament of the Italian Kingdom.
[Show full text]
Emerging Infections in Asia War and Disease: Biomedical Research on Malaria in the Twentieth Century
BOOKS AND MEDIA Emerging Infections Emerging Infections in Asia also The author, Leo B. Slater, makes good misses an opportunity to pull together use of his expertise as a historian of in Asia the diverse topics and experiences dis- biomedical science and technology. Yichen Lu, Myron Essex, cussed to provide new insights into the He provides a meticulous reconstruc- Bryan Roberts, editors emergence of infectious diseases and tion of the manner in which the scien- into responses to the constantly shift- tific community, in the midst of World Springer, New York, NY, USA, 2008 ing challenge of emerging infections. War II, established an antimalarial ISBN: 978-0-387-75721-6 Recognizing this drawback, the editors program, which was to biomedical Pages: 250; Price: US $89.95 say in their preface, “We hope that our research what the Manhattan Project Emerging Infections in Asia com- book can help readers make their own was to the physical sciences. At a time prises a selection of scientific and his- conclusions and ask more questions.” when industrialized nations are in- torical review chapters on a variety of Approached in this context, the book volved in the effort to find solutions to infectious diseases and includes con- provides an account of the diversity the ongoing global health catastrophe tributors from diverse locations rang- and challenges of emerging infectious that malaria is today, this volume is a ing from Saudi Arabia to Australia. The diseases in Asia and some informative timely and valuable contribution. book arose from the editors’ experience historical reviews that will be of inter- Malaria’s effects have long been with the emerging infections described est to students exploring this fascinat- at the center of colonial expansion and from their professional associa- ing topic.
[Show full text]
Giovanni Battista Grassi
Giovanni Battista Grassi Giovanni Battista Grassi (* 27. März 1854 in Rovellasca, Provinz Como; † 4. Mai 1925 in Rom) war ein italienischer Anatom, Zoologe und Parasitologe.[1] Giovanni Battista Grassi studierte Medizin an der Universität Pavia, wo er 1898 promoviert wurde. Am Anatomischen Institut in Heidelberg wurde er Mitarbeiter von Carl Gegenbaur und in Zürich von Otto Bütschli.[1] Grassi war ab 1883 Professor für Zoologie und vergleichende Anatomie in Catania und ab 1896 für vergleichende Anatomie in Rom. Er war ab 1897 Mitglied der »Accademia dei Lincei« und seit 1908 Senator des italienischen Königreichs. 1896 entdeckte er in der Straße von Messina Entwicklungsstadien von Jung-Aalen, was später auf das Problem der Aalwanderung führte. Grassi entdeckte 1898 mit Battista Grassi, um 1892 seinen Mitarbeitern Amico Bignami (1882–1929) und Giuseppe Bastianelli (1862– 1959), dass nur die Mücken der Gattung Anopheles menschliche Malaria übertragen und verwandte 1900 als erster Autor die Bezeichnung Anophelinae für die Stechmücken-Unterfamilie der Anopheles-Verwandten. 1896 wurde er mit der Darwin-Medaille der Royal Society ausgezeichnet. Literatur (Auswahl) mit Raimondo Feletti: Ueber die Parasiten der Malaria. In: Centralblatt für Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde. Bd. 7, Nr. 13, 1890, S. 396–401; Nr. 14, 1890, ZDB-ID 210145-2, S. 430–435. mit Raimondo Feletti: Malarienparasiten in den Vögeln. In: Centralblatt für Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde. Bd. 9, Nr. 12, 1891, S. 403–409; Nr. 13, 1891, S. 429–433; Nr. 14, 1891, S. 461–467. mit Raimondo Feletti: Weiteres zur Malariafrage. In: Centralblatt für Bakteriologie und Parasitenkunde. Bd. 10, Nr. 14, 1891, S. 449–454; Nr. 15, 1891, S.
[Show full text]
Despommier Griffin Gwadz Hotez Knirsch Sixth Edition
Sixth Edition Parasitic Diseases Despommier Griffin Gwadz Hotez Knirsch Parasites Without Borders, Inc. NY Dickson D. Despommier, Daniel O. Griffin, Robert W. Gwadz, Peter J. Hotez, Charles A. Knirsch Life Cycles by Photographs by John Karapelou Dickson D. Despommier and Daniel Griffin Parasitic Diseases Sixth Edition With over 400 illustrations in full color >3,000 references Parasites Without Borders, Inc. NY Dickson D. Despommier, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Public Health (Parasitology) and Microbiology, The Joseph L. Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University in the City of New York 10032 Daniel O. Griffin, M.D., Ph.D. CTropMed® ISTM CTH© Clinical Instructor of Medicine, Department of Medicine- Division of Infectious Diseases, Associate Research Scientist, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center New York, New York, NY 10032, ProHealth, Plainview, NY 11803. Robert W. Gwadz, Ph.D. Captain USPHS (ret), Visiting Professor, Collegium Medicum, The Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, Fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Fellow of the Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt, Chevalier of the Nation, Republic of Mali Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D., FASTMH, FAAP Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine, Professor, Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Head, Section of Pediatric Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics, Director, Sabin Vaccine Institute Texas Children’s Hospi- tal Center for Vaccine Development, President, Sabin Vaccine Institute, Baker Institute Fellow in Disease and Pov- erty, Rice University, University Professor, Baylor University, Co-Editor-in-Chief, PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Chair, Technical Advisory Board, END Fund, United States Science Envoy Charles A.
[Show full text]