An A to Z of medical history: Part 2
BMJ 2002; 325 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0210371 (Published 01 October 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;325:0210371
- Michael Jackson, fourth year medical student,
- Amy Norrington, fourth year medical student
M--Manson, Patrick (1844-1922) and malaria
Manson was studying elephantiasis in the 1870s when he discovered that it was caused by a nematode worm. This was a new idea and led to the revelation that insects could transmit disease. Manson then took this thinking further and applied it to the world's most serious endemic condition--malaria. Manson shared his ideas about malaria with Ronald Ross (1857-1932) who, using Manson's work, discovered the transmission cycle of malaria in 1897 (Alphonse Laveran (1845-1922) had discovered the species plasmodium, which causes malaria, in 1880). At a time when the British Empire was at its height, understanding fatal diseases capable of wiping out settlers was of paramount importance to a government desperate to maintain control of the colonies. The work of Manson and Ross led to the founding of the London and Liverpool schools of tropical medicine to study tropical disease further and the eventual emergence of tropical medicine as a specialty.
N--National Health Service
The Beveridge report of 1942 proposed a new health service should be available to everyone in the UK, without insurance contributions, and free at the point of use. Aneurin Bevan, minister of health in the postwar Labour administration, pursued this goal with energy. In the most far-reaching reorganisation of hospitals ever to occur in a Western nation (and vehemently opposed by many doctors at the time) the NHS started on 5 July 5 1948 and proved immensely popular. Since then, the dominant theme has been balancing an endless demand for health care with finite resources. More often referred to as a political football these days than as a provider of outstanding healthcare, the service has nevertheless shown much …
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