Douglas Somerville Bertram

Douglas Somerville Bertram (21 December 1913 – 24 October 1988) was a professor of medical entomology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He specialized in the study of arthropod vectors and human disease, particularly malaria.

Bertram was born in Glasgow where he went to Glasgow University where he received a degree before becoming a demonstrator in zoology working until 1938 with Professor Edward Hindle. In 1938 he became an assistant to R. M. Gordon and lectured at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He received a Ph.D. in 1940 and enlisted during World War II, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was captured by the Germans in Crete and released only at the end of the war. He worked on rat filariasis from 1946.[1][2] In 1948 he became a reader at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He conducted research on mosquitoes,[3] the transmission of malaria, and viruses.[4] He was a consultant for the British Army and helped develop methods for protection.[5][6] His method of determining the age of (female) mosquitoes through a count of the number of corpora lutea in the ovarioles was influential in malaria research.[7] He also examined triatomine bugs.[8] In 1964 he received a DSc from Glasgow.[9][10]

A microsporidian parasite of chironomid larvae, Thelohania bertrami, is named after him.[11]

  1. ^ Bertram, D.S (1953). "Laboratory studies on filariasis in the cotton-rat". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 47 (2): 85–116. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(53)90063-7.
  2. ^ Bertram, D.S. (1967), "Dynamics of Parasitic Equilibrium in Cotton Rat Filariasis", Advances in Parasitology, vol. 4, Elsevier, pp. 255–319, doi:10.1016/s0065-308x(08)60451-0, ISBN 978-0-12-031704-2, retrieved 2023-04-14
  3. ^ Bertram, D.S; McGregor, I.A; McFadzean, J.A (1958). "Mosquitoes of the colony and protectorate of the Gambia". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 52 (2): 135–151. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(58)90035-X.
  4. ^ Bertram, D.S.; Bird, R.G. (1961). "Studies on mosquito-borne viruses in their vectors". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 55 (5): 404–423. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(61)90085-2.
  5. ^ Bertram, D. S.; R. C. Page; A. J. Moss-Blundell (1967). "Laboratory tests of uniform fabric impregnated with mite repellents". BMJ Military Health. 113 (3): 126–133.
  6. ^ Bertram, D.S. (1964). "I. Entomological and parasitological aspects of vector chemosterilization". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 58 (4): 296–317. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(64)90197-X.
  7. ^ Bertram, D. S.; Samarawickrema, W. A. (1958). "Age Determination for Individual Mansonioides Mosquitoes". Nature. 182 (4633): 444–446. doi:10.1038/182444a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  8. ^ Bertram, D. S. (1971). "Attraction of Triatomine Bug Vectors of Chagas's Disease to Betalights". Nature. 231 (5300): 268–268. doi:10.1038/231268a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  9. ^ "Bertram, Prof. Douglas Somerville, (21 Dec. 1913–24 Oct. 1988), Professor of Medical Entomology and Director of Department of Entomology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 1956–76, later Emeritus", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u161976, retrieved 2023-04-14
  10. ^ Busvine, J.R. (1989). "Obituary. Douglas Somerville Bertram". Antenna. 13: 8–9.
  11. ^ Gassouma, M. S. S. (1972). "Microsporidan parasites of Simulium ornatum Mg. in South England". Parasitology. 65 (1): 27–45. doi:10.1017/S0031182000044218. ISSN 1469-8161.