Sir Ronald Ross ANDY BACHUS

Ronald Ross Timeline  May 1857: Born in Almora, India  1865: Sent to England for his education  : Attended medical school in England  1881: Entered Indian Medical Service  : Studied Bacteriology in England while on leave from the Indian Medical Service  1895: Began study looking into whether mosquitoes were linked to spread of Malaria  August 1897: Determined that Malaria transmitted to humans by Anopheles mosquitoes

Ronald Ross Timeline  1899: Began working for Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine  1902: Awarded Nobel Prize for work with Malaria  1911: Received Knighthood by Great Britain  : Worked in Mediterranean area to study how Malaria and other tropical diseases affected areas during First World War  1926: Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases opened in London, which was dedicated to Ross  September 1932: Died at the age of 75 in London

Early Life and Education  Born May 13, 1857 to C.C.G. and Matilda Ross in Almora, India  While still a child, sent to Isle of Wight in England for his education  Highly interested in literature and math, not as interested in science  Applied for and began medical studies at seventeen at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College  Did not want to be doctor or study sciences, applied to medical school for his father  Became a doctor in 1879 and went into the Indian Medical Service in 1881  Through service, tended to patients around the world in places like Burma, Andaman Islands

Interest in Bacteriology and Diseases  While on a break from working for the Indian Medical Service in 1888, decided to study Public Health in England  Studied at Royal College of Surgeons and Physicians  Took a bacteriology course which sparked his interest in studying diseases  While on leave in 1894, he first worked with the study of Malaria and how it is transmitted  Learned from Sir Patrick Manson that Malaria parasites could travel through blood

What is Malaria?  Sometimes-fatal parasitic disease transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes  Symptoms of uncomplicated Malaria are flu-like, which include fever, chills, body aches, and nausea  Severe Malaria can occur when it is not treated  Symptoms can include seizures, anemia, kidney failure, and coma which can lead to death  Malaria was eradicated from the U.S. in the 1950s but still occurs throughout the world  Malaria very widespread through Central Africa, India, and part of South America

Cycle of Malaria

Working with Malaria  Returned to India in 1895 working to prove that Malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes  Idea already hypothesized by Alphonse Laveran, Patrick Manson  Discovered that Anopheles mosquitoes could carry Malaria in blood in August 1897  Fed mosquitoes with blood from a Malaria patient for four days  Work published in British Medical Journal in December 1897  Research remarkable since he came to this conclusion through only studying a small amount of mosquitoes  Continued Malaria research by showing parasite could be transmitted from mosquitoes to birds in July 1898

Life After Malaria Research  Began working for Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1899  While at the school, traveled to Southern Europe, Central America, and Western Africa to develop ways to control Malaria  Awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work with Malaria in 1902  Alphonse Laveran awarded same Nobel Prize in 1907 for his original hypothesis  Received Knighthood in England in 1911  Studied control of Malaria again during the first World War  Traveled to areas were war was fought to research spread of Malaria  Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases opened in London in 1926  Ross died after battling a “long illness” in 1932

Ronald Ross’s Legacy  Discovery that Anopheles mosquito could carry Malaria led to better understanding, control of disease  Control of Malaria in first-world countries  United States free of Malaria in 1950s  Work led to finding better treatments and prevention methods for malaria  Work still continues today to completely eradicate Malaria from third-world countries

Sources  Ross Ross    oss-bio.html oss-bio.html 