Ronald Ross- Mosquito, Malaria and Much More

Abstract

Malaria has been, and still is, a major cause of not only human suffering and death and infant mortality, but also an economic burden on the society. According to the WHO Report of 2022, in 2021 alone 247 m people were affected by malaria. Apart from the use of antimalaria drugs, the importance of different preventive measures including the use of mosquito nets and insect repellents in managing malaria cannot be gainsaid. It should be underscored that the determined research efforts by medical personnel such as Ronald Ross, Patrick Manson, Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, Giovanni Battista Grassi, and a few others, despite several hardships they faced in pinning the mosquito as the transmitter of malaria was epoch-making. Obviously, this finding has played a key role in reducing the global impact of malaria. In this communication, I outline the efforts of Ronald Ross and the travails he went through while pursuing it, as well as his attitude in denying his co-workers their due credit, and the extroversion rooted in him which eventually made him turn hostile to his collaborators and to his mentor, Patrick Manson.