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Volume 22, Number 2—February 2016
Etymologia

Etymologia: Hemozoin

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Hemozoin [heʺmo-zoʹin]

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Figure. Hemozoin

From the Greek haima (“blood”) + zoon (“animal”), hemozoin (Figure) is a pigment produced by malaria parasites from hemoglobin in the host’s red blood cells. This pigment was first observed by Johann Heinrich Meckel in 1847 in the blood and spleen of a mentally impaired person. In 1849, Rudolf Virchow made the connection to malaria, but it was initially believed that it was produced in the patient’s spleen as a part of the immune response to malaria. In 1880, Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran observed pigmented parasites in the blood of an Algerian soldier and realized that the parasites, not the patient, produce “malaria pigment.” The term “hemozoin” was coined by Louis Westenra Sambon.

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References

  1. Janjua  RM, Schultka  R, Goebbel  L, Pait  TG, Shields  CB. The legacy of Johann Friedrich Meckel the Elder (1724–1774): a 4-generation dynasty of anatomists. Neurosurgery. 2010;66:75871. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar
  2. Sullivan  DJ. Theories on malarial pigment formation and quinoline action. Int J Parasitol. 2002;32:164553. DOIPubMedGoogle Scholar

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Cite This Article

DOI: 10.3201/eid2202.et2202

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Table of Contents – Volume 22, Number 2—February 2016

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Page created: January 05, 2016
Page updated: January 05, 2016
Page reviewed: January 05, 2016
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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