Ross, Sir Ronald

Ross, Sir Ronald (1857-1932), British doctor, b. Almora, India.

Ronald Ross studied medicine in London and then went back to work in India for eighteen years.

In his time, people were much concerned about a fever called malaria. It was known that this disease was caused by parasites in a person's blood, but no one knew how the parasites got into the blood.

Ross studied this problem and found the answer. The parasites grew in the stomach of a certain kind of mosquito. When one of these mosquitoes bit a person, the parasites were able to enter their blood.

Ross's discovery helped doctors to find a way of treating malaria. It also showed something else. You could get rid of malaria if you got rid of the mosquitoes. This has now been done in many parts of the world where malaria used to be common.

See Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe ~ Andrew Spielman