Malaria 1897 – A Disease Transmitted by Mosquitoes

According to physicians Charles Poser and G. W. Bruyn, malaria has defeated armies, influenced the fate of besieged cities, and probably contributed to the decline of Greek civilization and the Roman Empire. Historians have also examined physicians' attitudes toward this disease. They observed an evolution that began with superstition and ended with science in the 1900s.

Malaria is a disease that causes more than one million deaths each year, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It is also significant as the first disease definitively shown to be caused by a complex single-celled organism (a protist). 

In 1880, French army physician Charles Laveran discovered malaria parasites in a patient's blood. In 1897, while working in India, British physician Ronald Ross conclusively demonstrated that malaria was carried by mosquitoes after observing the parasites in mosquito salivary glands.

• A malaria parasite in the salivary glands of a female Anopheles mosquito enters a person's bloodstream when the mosquito bites them. 
• After spending time in the liver, the parasite multiplies in red blood cells, causing fever, coma, and, in severe cases, death. 
• Of the five species of parasites that can cause the disease (in the genus Plasmodium), the most dangerous is Plasmodium falciparum. 
• The body's immune system has difficulty eliminating the parasite because it lives inside liver cells and blood cells. 

Draining stagnant water where mosquitoes lay their eggs, or spraying it with insecticides, can slow the spread of malaria. In modern times, malaria is generally treated with combinations of medicines containing derivatives of artemisinin (one of the medicinal plants used in Chinese medicine), or medicines containing derivatives of quinine (obtained from tree bark).

Description of the Article Image: A female Anopheles albimanus mosquito feeding on a human host and becoming engorged with blood.

Historical Figures Mentioned in This Article: Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (1845–1922), Sir Ronald Ross (1857–1932)

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