Medical Dictionary
Main Entry:
Man·son·el·la Pronunciation:
"man(t)-s&-'nel-& Function:
noun : a genus of filarial worms of the superfamilyFilarioidea including one (
M. ozzardi) that is common and apparently nonpathogenic in human visceral fat and mesenteries in So. and Central America
Manáson /'man-s&n/,
Sir Patrick (1844–1922), British parasitologist. Manson is remembered as the father of tropical medicine. In 1877 he was the first to prove the connection between insects andtropical disease: he demonstrated that culex mosquitoes are carriers of filaria larvae. He found filaria in individuals affected with elephantiasis. In 1894 he first put forth his mosquito-malariahypothesis. His research helped Sir Ronald Ross to elucidate the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. In 1898 Manson published a classic textbook on tropical diseases that is still in use. Theschistosome (
Schistosoma mansoni) that causes schistosomiasis mansoni is but one of many pathogenic parasites that he discovered and whose life cycle he worked out.
