Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Lav·er·a·nia Pronunciation:
"lav-&-'rA-ny& Function:
noun in some classifications : a genus of malariaparasites of the family Plasmodiidae that is now usually included in the genus
Plasmodium Laáveáran /lov-rän,/ Charles–Louis–Alphonse(1845–1922), French physician and parasitologist. Laveran began his career as an army surgeon and for a time taught military medicine. In 1880, while stationed in Algeria, he discoveredthe plasmodium parasite (
Plasmodium falciparum) that causes falciparum malaria in humans. Some parasitologists classify the organism in a separate genus,
Laverania, named in his honor.(Later, Sir Ronald Ross discovered that the malarial vector is the mosquito.) The author of over 600 scientific books and papers, Laveran went on to develop research in tropical medicine and didproductive studies of trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and other protozoal diseases and disease agents. From 1897, while at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, he did research on parasitic blood diseases inhumans and animals. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, and with the prize money he established the Laboratory of Tropical Diseases at the Institute.
