Alphonse Laveran

LAVERAN Alphonse (Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, 1845–1922), the famous French researcher in the field of protozoan diseases. Upon graduating from the medical faculty in Strasbourg, he worked in a military hospital in Paris (1867–78), then served as a military doctor in Algeria (1878–83). From 1884, Laveran was a professor of military hygiene at the Val-de-Grâce military-medical school in Paris; in 1895, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences. From 1897 until his death, he worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. In 1907, he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Laveran immortalized his name by discovering the causative agent of malaria. Working in Algeria and studying the changes in the blood and tissues in this disease, Laveran came to the conclusion that the most characteristic feature is the presence of pigmented elements in the blood of patients. In 1880, observing the exflagellation (microgametes) in the blood of a malaria patient, Laveran became convinced of the correctness of his assumption regarding the animal-parasitic nature of these elements. In the same year, Laveran reported his discovery to the Academy of Sciences, but the Academy treated the report with skepticism. The epoch was not favorable to the spread of new protozoological ideas. Pasteur's great discoveries held minds, and a tendency to consider bacteria as the causative agents of all contagious diseases prevailed everywhere. Only a year before Laveran's discovery, "malaria bacilli" had been described and gained recognition from the majority of scientists. In 1881, Laveran thoroughly studied the life cycle of the unicellular animal parasite he discovered in the human body and finally became convinced that this parasite is indeed the causative agent of malaria. Subsequently, Laveran's observations and conclusions were confirmed by a number of authors and were gradually accepted by all. In 1884, Laveran expressed the idea that part of the parasite's life cycle takes place in an intermediate insect host outside the human body. This assumption received brilliant proof in subsequent years through the works of Ross, Grassi, and others, who unmistakably established the role of the mosquito in the development and spread of the malaria parasite. In addition to studying malaria, its distribution, and methods of combating it, Laveran worked extensively in the field of other protozoan diseases, mainly trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis. Not limiting himself to scientific research work in the laboratory, Laveran developed extensive organizational activities, in particular in combating malaria in Corsica and in preventing protozoan diseases in the French army during the World War. Laveran was the founder of the French Society of Exotic Pathology (1908) and an honorary member of a number of medical societies, including those of St. Petersburg and Batum. The number of works published by Laveran exceeds 600; among the largest are: «Traité des maladies et des épidémies des armées» (P., 1875; Russian translation - St. Petersburg, 1877); «Traité des fièvres palustres» (P., 1884); «Du paludisme et de son hématozoaire» (P., 1891); «Traité d'hygiène militaire» (P., 1896; Russian translation - vols. I-II, St. Petersburg, 1900); «Traité du paludisme» (P., 1-re éd., 1897; 2-me éd., 1907; Russian translation - St. Petersburg, 1901); «Trypanosomes et trypanosomiases» (co-authored with F. Mesnil, 1-re éd., 1904; 2-me éd., P., 1912; Russian translation - St. Petersburg, 1907); «Leishmanioses» (P., 1917); «Prophylaxie du paludisme» (P., n.d.).