Question

Who discovered Plasmodium in the RBC of human beings?
A. Ronald Ross
B. Mendel
C. Laveran
D. Stephens

Answer 1

Hint: The discovery of the protozoan parasite, Plasmodium from the RBC of human beings was done in 1880. He received a Nobel Prize for his discovery in the year 1907.

Complete answer: Sir Ronald Ross was a British medical doctor known for his work on the transmission of the malarial parasite. He became the first British Nobel laureate.
He proved that the female Anopheles mosquito is the one that transmits the malarial parasite, the Plasmodium from one human being to another.
Gregor Johann Mendel is well known for his works in genetics and heredity.
Mendel postulated the laws of heredity.
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran was a French physician who discovered the parasitic protozoan, Plasmodium which is the causative agent of the disease malaria from the RBC of human beings.

Additional information: Plasmodium is a genus of unicellular eukaryotes that are obligate parasites of both vertebrates and insects.
The life cycle of the Plasmodium includes the development of the Plasmodium in a blood-feeding insect host and vertebrates.
The development of the Plasmodium occurs in a blood-feeding insect (like a mosquito) which acts as the carrier of the pathogen. The insect while feeding on the blood of a vertebrate animal will transfer the protozoan into the host body.
The sexual stage of the Plasmodium (multiplication) occurs in the host body, where it causes the disease.

Hence the correct option is ‘C’

Note: Laveran found the parasitic protozoan which are the causative agents of malaria and trypanosomiasis or African sleeping sickness.
He found the protozoan using the blood smear taken from a patient who had just died of malaria. He received a Nobel Prize for his discovery in the year 1907.