|
Sleeping Sickness Commission
The Sleeping Sickness Commission was a medical project established by the British Royal Society to investigate the outbreak of African sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis in Africa at the turn of the 20th century. The outbreak of the disease started in 1900 in Uganda, which was at the time a protectorate of the British Empire. The initial team in 1902 consisted of Aldo Castellani and George Carmichael Low, both from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Cuthbert Christy, a medical officer on duty in Bombay, India. From 1903, David Bruce of the Royal Army Medical Corps and David Nunes Nabarro of the University College Hospital took over the leadership. The commission established that species of blood protozoan called ''Trypanosoma brucei'', named after Bruce, was the causative parasite of sleeping sickness. Background Symptoms of sleeping sickness in animals were evident in ancient Egyptian writings. Records of Arabian traders in the Middle Ages menti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, recognising excellence in science, supporting outstanding science, providing scientific advice for policy, education and public engagement and fostering international and global co-operation. Founded on 28 November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society and is the oldest continuously existing scientific academy in the world. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Society's President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the basic members of the society, who are themselves elected by existing Fellows. , there are about 1,700 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS (Fellow of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tsetse Fly
Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glossinidae. The tsetse are obligate parasites, which live by feeding on the blood of vertebrate animals. Tsetse have been extensively studied, because of their role in transmitting disease. They have a prominent economic impact in sub-Saharan Africa, as the biological vectors of trypanosomes, causing human and animal trypanosomiasis. Tsetse are multivoltine and long-lived, typically producing about four broods per year, with up to 31 broods over their lifespans. Tsetse can be distinguished from other large flies by two easily-observed features: Primarily, tsetse fold their wings over their abdomens completely when they are resting (so that one wing rests directly on top of the other); Secondly, tsetse also have a long proboscis, extending d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Lancet
''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, review articles ("seminars" and "reviews"), editorials, book reviews, correspondence, as well as news features and case reports. ''The Lancet'' has been owned by Elsevier since 1991, and its editor-in-chief since 1995 has been Richard Horton. The journal has editorial offices in London, New York City, and Beijing. History ''The Lancet'' was founded in 1823 by Thomas Wakley, an English surgeon who named it after the surgical instrument called a lancet (scalpel). Members of the Wakley family retained editorship of the journal until 1908. In 1921, ''The Lancet'' was acquired by Hodder & Stoughton. Elsevier acquired ''The Lancet'' from Hodder & Stoughton in 1991. Impact According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the journal has a 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culex Quinquefasciatus
''Culex'' is a genus of mosquitoes, several species of which serve as vectors of one or more important diseases of birds, humans, and other animals. The diseases they vector include arbovirus infections such as West Nile virus, Japanese encephalitis, or St. Louis encephalitis, but also filariasis and avian malaria. They occur worldwide except for the extreme northern parts of the temperate zone, and are the most common form of mosquito encountered in some major U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles. Etymology In naming this genus, Carl Linnaeus appropriated the nonspecific Latin term for a midge or gnat: '. Description Depending on the species, the adult ''Culex'' mosquito may measure from . The adult morphology is typical of flies in the suborder Nematocera with the head, thorax, and abdomen clearly defined and the two forewings held horizontally over the abdomen when at rest. As in all Diptera capable of flight, the second pair of wings is reduced and modified into tiny, incon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephantiasis
Elephantiasis is the enlargement and hardening of limbs or body parts due to tissue swelling. It is characterised by edema, hypertrophy, and fibrosis of skin and subcutaneous tissues, due to obstruction of lymphatic vessels. It may affect the genitalia. The term elephantiasis is often used in reference to (symptoms caused by) parasitic worm infections, but may refer to a variety of diseases where parts of a person's body swell to massive proportions. __TOC__ Cause Some conditions that present with elephantiasis include: * Elephantiasis nostras, due to longstanding chronic lymphangitis * Elephantiasis tropica (known as lymphatic filariasis), caused by a number of parasitic worms, particularly ''Wuchereria bancrofti''. More than 120 million people, mostly in Africa and Southeast Asia, are affected. * Nonfilarial elephantiasis (or podoconiosis), an immune disease affecting the lymph vessels * Leishmaniasis * Elephantiasis, Grade 3 lymphedema which may occur in people with breast cance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wuchereria Bancrofti
''Wuchereria bancrofti'' is a filarial (arthropod-borne) nematode (roundworm) that is the major cause of lymphatic filariasis. It is one of the three parasitic worms, together with ''Brugia malayi'' and '' B. timori'', that infect the lymphatic system to cause lymphatic filariasis. These filarial worms are spread by a variety of mosquito vector species. ''W. bancrofti'' is the most prevalent of the three and affects over 120 million people, primarily in Central Africa and the Nile delta, South and Central America, the tropical regions of Asia including southern China, and the Pacific islands. If left untreated, the infection can develop into lymphatic filariasis. In rare conditions, it also causes tropical pulmonary eosinophilia. No vaccine is commercially available, but high rates of cure have been achieved with various antifilarial regimens and lymphatic filariasis is the target of the World Health Organization Global Program to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis with the aim to erad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mansonella Perstans
''Mansonella perstans'' is a filarial (arthropod-borne) nematode (roundworm), transmitted by tiny blood-sucking flies called midges. ''Mansonella perstans'' is one of two filarial nematodes that causes serous cavity filariasis in humans. The other filarial nematode is '' Mansonella ozzardi''. ''M. perstans'' is widespread in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, parts of Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Compared to infections with other filarial parasites such as ''Wuchereria bancrofti'', ''Brugia malayi'', and ''Loa loa'', ''Mansonella'' infections are relatively mild. However, the pathogenicity of ''M. perstans'' infection has been recently reconsidered in various studies. These studies have demonstrated that ''M. perstans'' has the ability to induce a variety of clinical features, including angioedema Calabar-like swellings, pruritus, fever, headache, eosinophilia, and abdominal pain. The overall disability among populations in regions where filariae are endemi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rose Bradford
Sir John Rose Bradford, 1st Baronet (7 May 1863 – 7 April 1935) was a British physician. Early life John Rose Bradford was born in London, the son of Abraham Rose and Ellen (née Ltttleton) Bradford. His father was a Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals in the Royal Navy. He was educated at University College School and in Bruges, before studying for a degree at University College and qualifying as a doctor in 1883. Career After serving as a house physician in University College Hospital he was made an Assistant Physician in 1889 and then moved to hold the same position at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic from 1893 to 1896. His main interest was physiological research on such subjects as the electrical phenomena accompanying secretion, the action of drugs on the circulation and secretion of the kidney, and the innervation of various blood vessels. In 1894 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1898 published ''Clinical Lectures on Nephrit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in Afrikaans, English and Zulu alike, and often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products, as well as the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality. The public sector is a major employer in the city due to local, district and provincial governments located here. The city has many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the current population is estimated at over 600,000 residents (including neighbouring townships) and has one of the largest populatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The British Medical Journal
''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Originally called the ''British Medical Journal'', the title was officially shortened to ''BMJ'' in 1988, and then changed to ''The BMJ'' in 2014. The journal is published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, a subsidiary of the British Medical Association (BMA). The editor-in-chief of ''The BMJ'' is Kamran Abbasi, who was appointed in January 2022. History The journal began publishing on 3 October 1840 as the ''Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal'' and quickly attracted the attention of physicians around the world through its publication of high-impact original research articles and unique case reports. The ''BMJ''s first editors were P. Hennis Green, lecturer on the diseases of children at the Hunterian School of Medicine, who also was its founde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Tanganyika
Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. The lake is shared among four countries—Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Zambia, with Tanzania (46%) and DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean. Etymology "Tanganika" was the name of the lake that Henry Morton Stanley encountered when he was at Ujiji in 1876. The name first originated from the Bembe language when they arrived in South Kivu around the 7th century, they discovered the lake and started calling it “êtanga ‘ya’ni’â” which means “a big river” in their Bantu language. Stanley found also other names for the lake among different ethnic groups, like the Kimana, the Yemba and the Msaga. An alt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Sleeping Sickness Commission")
