LY Med's video: Nobel Prizes Explained: The Crazy Life of Malaria

Want to support the channel? Be a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/LYMED Subscribe for future videos in this series! More detailed video of malaria here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O3YrdUZQ5U&t=608s Onto our second Nobel prize for Medicine or Physiology. A always, we start with the medical context of this prize and it’s a doozy. We begin our talk on malaria. Malaria is possibly the most deadly infectious disease in history- having killed possibly up to one BILLION people in total. Even today with global anti-malarial efforts, there remains reports of over 200 million cases a year, with deaths up to 750,000 deaths each year. It effects mainly tropical and subtropical regions which includes South America, Sub-saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Malaria is caused by parasites belonging to the plasmodium group, which is carried and transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, a special genus of mosquito. Starting in the mosquito's stomach, Plasmodium migrates to the salivary gland. As the mosquito feeds, plasmodium spills out from the mosquito's saliva into a persons blood stream. It soon reaches the liver and infects liver cells where they start to reproduce. Some plasmodium species can stay dormant here for months even years, while others eventually then get released back into the blood. But once they do reach the blood, they can reproduce, grow, and eventually rupture the cell, spreading the infection. Or they can get picked up from another mosquito and the cycle repeats itself. When a person gets infected with malaria, they can develop a flu-like symptoms, such as fever, night sweats, joint pain and vomiting. As blood cells rupture, patients can develop anemia. Red blood cells that don’t burst can be covered with a sticky protein and clump, blocking blood vessels. This can reduce flow to the brain – cerebral malaria leading to seizures and coma and is the most common cause of death. Other organs infected can include the kidneys and spleen. But the only way to defeat your enemy is to know your enemy. Unfortunately, for the vast majority of history, we had no idea how malaria spread, let alone how complicated it was. Enter Ronald Ross Born in 1857 near the Himalayan Mountains in India, Ross was the son of a General in the British Indian Army. At a young age, he showed an interest in poetry, music and math, and basically anything not medicine. However, his father disapproved and he ultimately entered medical school. He spent most of his time in medical school writing poems and music and got average grades. His father wanted him join the Indian military Service, but he flunked the qualifying exam and had to retake it. With is poor grades, he was commissioned to the lesser desirable appointments, where he would treat many soldiers ill with malaria, and would actually contract malaria himself in 1886. Now what caused malaria was still up to debate at this point. Some people thought it was due to poor air quality, Ross himself thought it was due to poison in the bowel. However, Louis Pasteur, the father of microbiology had put forth the germ theory of this disease at this time – or the idea that microbial germs can cause infectious diseases and this was all the rage. Other doctors reported that black pigmented granules were found in the blood, and hypothesized that these might be the culprits. If it was or how it spread – remained to be seen. He would recover from malaria and during his time in malaria endemic regions, he would notice a peculiar type of mosquito – which by chance happened to be a anopheles mosquito. Wondering if it was spread by mosquito – in which there was a lot of them in this area, he let a mosquito feed off a patient with malaria. Soon after feeding, he dissected the mosquito and found peculiar cells in the gut. He would repeat experiments with different mosquitos and different timing and would study the stages of it’s life cycle. In 1898, he would complete his work by proving transfer of the parasite to birds from infected mosquitos, completing the life cycle. His work in finally discovering how malaria spread would earn him the Nobel Prize in 1902. Disclaimer: These videos do not provide medical advice and are for informational purposes only. The videos are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen in any LY Med video.