| RefNo | EC/1981/26 |
| Previous numbers | Cert XXI, 26 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | McGregor, Sir Ian Alexander: certificate of election to the Royal Society |
| Date | 1979 |
| Description | Citation typed |
| Citation | Until the late 1950s it was uncertain that humoral antibodies played a significant part in immunity to human malaria. By prolonged epidemiological and clinical studies in the wilds of West Africa, McGregor demonstrated that, as the gamma-globulin content of the blood of native children rose, immunity began to develop and parasitaemia to decrease. Administration of an antimalarial drug from birth prevented this rise and reduced the customary high levels of gamma-globulin, found in adults inhabiting holoendemic areas, to the levels in children thus protected. Later, in collaboration with Sydney Cohen, it was shown that injection of a gamma-globulin fraction present in such adults into children suffering from malaria cleared the blood of parasites and cut short the disease. These findings decisively changed the whole emphasis of research on immunity to malaria. |
| AccessStatus | Closed |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA4562 | McGregor; Sir; Ian Alexander (1922 - 2007) | 1922 - 2007 |