Discovery of Malaria

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QUESTION

Who was the discoverer of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria has been known to humans since ancient times, though what exactly caused it and how it was transmitted was not known. The parasite which causes malaria, from the genus Plasmodium, was first observed in the blood of a patient who had died from the disease by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician working in Algeria. This was in 1880; a few years later, in 1897-1898, a British army doctor called Ronald Ross showed that malaria could be transmitted via the bite of a mosquito. Both doctors eventually received the Nobel Prize for their discoveries.

Malaria Origins

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QUESTION

What is the origin of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite of the genus Plasmodium. There are five difference species of Plasmodium which infect humans – these all likely evolved from various different species of Plasmodium which infect other primates, such as gorillas (for P. falciparum) and macaques (P. vivax, P. knowlesi, possibly other types as well). This happened many thousands of years ago; humans have been plagued by malaria since before records began. In fact, the first recorded mention of the symptoms of malaria come from ancient China, in a manuscript dated to 2700 years before the common era, or almost 5000 years ago.

However, understanding that malaria was caused by a microscopic parasite, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, occurred much more recently; the Plasmodium parasite was first observed in the blood of a person who died from malaria in 1880 by the French physician Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. A few years later, in 1897/1898, a British physician, Ronald Ross, demonstrated that the parasite could be transmitted between hosts via the bite of an infected mosquito. Both physicians eventually won Nobel Prizes for their work.

Who Discovered Malaria?

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QUESTION

Who discovered malaria?

ANSWER

People have known about malaria for thousands of years—the first record of it comes from 2700 BCE, in an ancient Chinese medical text. Other ancient peoples, such as the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, also knew the symptoms associated with malaria. But it wasn’t until the 19th century that the causes of malaria were understood. In 1880, a French physician named Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first saw the parasites that cause malaria in the blood of a patient. By 1886, Camillo Golgi, an Italian physiologist, had observed that there were at least two separate types of malaria, which produced different length cycles of fever during the clinical presentation. These two forms were later called Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae. It wasn’t until more than a decade later, in 1897/1898, that the method of transmission of malaria was first understood – Ronald Ross, a British army doctor, showed that malaria could be passed from a human patient to a mosquito vector, and also between infected hosts using mosquitoes. He won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work in 1902.

Since then, research on malaria has expanded exponentially, with particular attention giving to understanding ways in which the parasite can be therapeutically halted, thus leading to the discovery of new malaria medications.

How did it get the name “malaria”?

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QUESTION

How did malaria get its name?

ANSWER

The word “malaria” comes from Italian, “mala aria” which literally translates to “bad air”. This came from the ancient association, traced back as far as the ancient Greeks and Romans, that the disease was associated with swampy, marshy areas where the air smelled bad.

The mechanism of transmission was not known back then, nor did they know anything about infectious disease agents like bacteria, viruses or the single-celled protozoa like what causes malaria. So they believed it was the air itself that caused the infection, hence giving malaria its name. The protozoan which causes malaria was not discovered until 1880 when Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran observed the parasites in a patient; it was a few years later, in 1897/1898, that Ronald Ross discovered that mosquitoes transmitted malaria between human hosts. He won a Nobel Prize for this discovery in 1902.

Discovery of Mosquito Causing Malaria

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QUESTION:

Who found that malaria was caused by a mosquito?

ANSWER:

The man who first discovered that malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes was a British Army doctor called Ronald Ross. Working in India in 1897-1898, Ross demonstrated how malaria parasites could be transmitted first between a patient and a mosquito, and then between hosts via mosquitoes (this latter work was done using birds). Ronald Ross was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1902 for his discoveries.