title: The race to discover the insect vector of kala-azar: a great saga of tropical medicine 1903-1942.
abstract: In the 19(th) century, a devastating epidemic of visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) swept through northeast India. After identification of the pathogenic agent, Leishmania donovani, in 1903, the question of its transmission remained to be resolved. In 1904, thanks to work by L. Rogers on cultures of this parasite it became probable that a haematophagous arthropod was responsible for transmission. J.A. Sinton suggested, in 1925, the distribution of the sand fly Phlebotomus argentipes was similar to that of the disease and, thereafter, two independent teams led by H.E. Shortt in Assam and R. Knowles and L. Napier in Calcutta concentrated on this potential vector. Parallel work was in progress in China, directed by E. Hindle and W. S. Patton for the Royal Society Kala-azar Commission, on another species of sand fly. In 1942 the Assam workers transmitted L. donovani to five human volunteers by the bites of colonised P. argentipes and the race was over.
authors.affiliation: 2, Place du Temple, 30440, Sumène, France. killickendrick@wanadoo.fr
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Killick-Kendrick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000469:parasitology; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology*; D007893:Leishmania donovani / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007898:Leishmaniasis, Visceral / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history* / Q000635:transmission; D033281:Nontherapeutic Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics / Q000266:history; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010691:Phlebotomus / Q000469:parasitology*; D014330:Tropical Medicine / Q000266:history*; D014508:Urea / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000266:history / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000981:Antiprotozoal Agents; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D014508:Urea; C053921:urea stibamine