Sir Patrick Manson. Father of tropical medicine.

Abstract

Sir Patrick Manson. Illustration by Venita Jay, MD, FRCPC. I the obscurity of Amoy, South China, a lone Scotsman working with the most humble medical resources uncovered the remarkable mystery of filariasis. He not only enriched the world of medicine with numerous contributions on several tropical diseases, but also initiated a new era of thinking that winged arthropods may be associated with the spread of disease in man. In 1899, his pioneering efforts led to the establishment of a new discipline in medicine and the founding of the London School of Tropical Medicine. The lone Scotsman was Patrick Manson (1844–1922), who was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the second in a family of 9 children. At the age of 15 years, he was apprenticed to an ironmaster’s firm in Aberdeen, but a breakdown in health prevented him from continuing this pursuit. The young Manson therefore turned to medicine at Aberdeen University, and passed his final examinations by the age of 20. By regulation, he had to be 21 years old to obtain his medical degree. Manson’s thesis on the internal carotid artery was his first paper, written while he was a medical officer at the Durham Lunatic Asylum; for this work he was awarded his MD in Aberdeen. In 1866, Manson traveled to Formosa, as medical officer to the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. Thus started a lifelong connection with the tropics and tropical diseases. After 5 years in Formosa, he was transferred to Amoy, China, where he would live for 13 years. Manson was in charge of a hospital for seamen and another missionary hospital. Practicing medicine in these areas was not easy for a Westerner at the time, but the persistent Manson slowly won the trust of the local population. Besides his busy medical practice, which included many surgical operations, Manson devoted his spare time to his passion, research on filaria. Manson’s scientific inquiries were aided only by his extraordinary will and curiosity, and his microscope. Filarial disease, which causes the disfiguring elephantiasis, was highly prevalent in Manson’s patient population in Amoy. Surgery was necessary in advanced cases, but the local population initially resisted his efforts. By an un-