Medical Definition of Mansonella
: a genus of filarial worms (as Mansonella ozzardi, M. perstans, and M. streptocerca) of Africa, South American and Central America that are parasitic in humans, are transmitted by biting midges (genus Culicoides) and blackflies (genus Simulium), and produce microfilariae which are found in the bloodstream and subcutaneous tissue
Biographical Note for mansonella
Manson \ˈman-sən\play ,
Sir Patrick (1844–1922), British parasitologist. Manson is remembered as the father of tropical medicine. In 1877 he was the first to prove the connection between insects and tropical disease: he demonstrated that culex mosquitoes are carriers of filaria larvae. He found filaria in individuals affected with elephantiasis. In 1894 he first put forth his mosquito-malaria hypothesis. His research helped Sir Ronald Ross to elucidate the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes. The schistosome (Schistosoma mansoni) that causes schistosomiasis mansoni is but one of many pathogenic parasites that he discovered and whose life cycle he worked out.
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