Mandayam Osuri Tirunarayana Iyengar (6 February 1895 – 16 September 1972) was an Indian medical entomologist who worked on management of filaria and malaria vectors. He was employed as an entomologist in the Department of Malaria Research, Bengal. The mermithid parasite Romanomermis iyengari and the mosquito species Culex iyengari are named after him.

M. O. T. Iyengar

Life and work

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Iyengar was born in a prominent Madras family, his father M.O. Alasingrachariar was a senior judge in the Madras High Court, and an older brother was the botanist M.O.P. Iyengar. After studying at the Hindu High School and graduating from the Presidency College, Madras he joined as an entomologist in-charge in the Bengal Malaria Research laboratory in Calcutta from 1918. He also taught medical parasitology and entomology for public health students. He served as a professor of medical entomology at the School of Tropical Medicine in Calcutta between 1922 and 1923. He also maintained an interest in botany, especially in association with aquatic habitats where he was studying mosquitoes,[1][2] and described the floral biology of Monochoria and published with his brother on Characium (algae) associated with the larvae of Anopheles[3] in 1932.[4][5] He worked under the aegis of the Rockefeller Foundation for the Travancore State between 1931 and 1934 studying filariasis on which he served as a consultant for the World Health Organization working in many parts of the world including Afghanistan,[6] the Maldives,[7] New Guinea,[8] Samoa, and Thailand.[9] He collaborated with other malariologists around the world including P.A. Buxton, Wilhelm Schüffner, Henri Galliard, N.H. Swellengrebel and P.G. Shute. He surveyed natural control measures of mosquito larvae[10] and identified fungi in the Coelomomyces group and a mermithid with potential for use in control. A mermithid, named after him as Romanomermis iyengari has found continued use in the management of anophelines around the world.[11] Other findings of his included the observation that microfilaria that had been injested with blood by mosquitoes, entered the haemocoel not from the stomach wall as had been earlier thought but through the wall of the proventriculus.[12] Iyengar also published a couple of notes in entomology that were not in his professional line of work. These include notes on adult coprid beetles emerging from human intestines with faeces.[13] The Dr M.O.T. Iyengar Memorial Award was instituted in 1983 by his wife Mrs Rukmani Iyengar.[14]

Publications

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Swellengrebel with Iyengar (right-most in white) at Calcutta, c. 1924

A complete list of publications is provided in Iyengar & Gandhi (2009). Some major publications include:

  • "A note on grappling tail-hooks in anopheline larvae" . Indian J. Med. Res. Vol. 9. pp. 630–633. 1922 – via Wikisource.
  • On the biology of the flowers of Monochoria. J. Indian Bot. Soc, 170-173, April 1923
  • The anopheline fauna of a swamp in Bangalore. Indian J. Med. Res.,13:697-702,1926
  • Infestation of the human intestines by coprid beetles. Indian Med. Gaz., 63, 365-369, 1928.
  • The larva of Anopheles turkhudi. Indian J. Med. Res., 17:1189-1192, 1930
  • Filariasis in North Travancore. Indian J. Med. Res.,  20, 671-672, 1933
  • Rat-flea survey in Peermade District, Travancore. Indian J. Med. Res., 21:723-730,1934
  • The identification of common rat-fleas of India. Indian J. Med. Res., 22:675-686,1935
  • Public health aspects of filariasis in India. Indian Med. Gaz,  72:300-307,  1937.
  • Naturalistic  control  of the  breeding  of Anopheles  sundaicus  by means  of  Eichomia  cover. J. Malar.  Inst. India,  6:309-310,1946.  
  • Mosquitoes of the Maldive Islands. Bull. Ent. Res., 46:1-10, 1955. (with  M.A.U. Menon).
  • Infection experiments with a fungus (Coelomomyces) which kills malarial mosquitoes. Science, 158, 526, 1967. (with J.N. Couch and C.J. Umphlett)
  • Developmental Stages Of Filariae In Mosquitoes. 5th. Pacif. Comm. Tech. Pap., No. 104, 11 pages, 1957

References

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  1. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1933). "Ovípositíon in Mosquitoes of the Subgenus Mansonioides". Indian Journal of Medical Research. 21 (1): 101–102.
  2. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1935). "Biology of Indian Mosquito Larvae that attach themselves to the Roots of Water Plants". Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London. 10 (1): 9–11.
  3. ^ Iyengar, M. O. P.; Iyengar, M. O. T. (1932). "On a Characium Growing on Anopheles Larvae". The New Phytologist. 31 (1): 66–69. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1932.tb07434.x. ISSN 0028-646X. JSTOR 2428408.
  4. ^ Iyengar, M.O.T. (1932). "On the biology of flowers of Monochoria". Journal of the Indian Botanical Society. 3: 170–173.
  5. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1944). "Problems relating to Malaria Control in deltaic Bengal". Journal of the Malaria Institute of India. 5 (4): 435–447.
  6. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1954). "Vector of Malaria in Kabul, Afghanistan". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 48 (4): 319–324. doi:10.1016/0035-9203(54)90102-9. PMID 13187562.
  7. ^ Iyengar, M.O.T. (1952). "Filariasis in the Maldive Islands". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 7 (4): 375–403. PMC 2554142. PMID 13032785.
  8. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T.; Rook, H. De; Dijk, W. J. O. M. Van (1959). "Interruption of transmission of Anopheles-borne filariasis by indoor residual spraying in Netherlands New Guinea". Tropical and Geographical Medicine. 11 (3): 287–290. PMID 14406180.
  9. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T.; Menon, M. A. U. (1956). "The Mosquitos of south Thailand". Bulletin of Entomological Research. 47 (4): 785–795. doi:10.1017/S0007485300047015. ISSN 0007-4853.
  10. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1938). "Natural parasites of mosquitoes in India". Proceedings of the National Institute of Sciences of India. 4 (2): 237–239.
  11. ^ Abagli, Ayaba Z.; Alavo, Thiery B. C.; Perez-Pacheco, Rafael; Platzer, Edward G. (2019). "Efficacy of the mermithid nematode, Romanomermis iyengari, for the biocontrol of Anopheles gambiae, the major malaria vector in sub-Saharan Africa". Parasites & Vectors. 12 (1): 253. doi:10.1186/s13071-019-3508-6. PMC 6530168. PMID 31118105.
  12. ^ Iyengar, M. O. T. (1936). "Entry of Filaria Larvae into the Body Cavity of the Mosquito". Parasitology. 28 (2): 190–194. doi:10.1017/S0031182000022381. ISSN 0031-1820.
  13. ^ Iyengar, M.O.T. (1928). "Infestation of the human intestine by coprid beetles in Bengal". Indian Medical Gazette. 63 (7): 365–369. PMC 5235717. PMID 29011607.
  14. ^ Iyengar, R; Gandhi, Tara (2009). Tyagi, B. K.; Arunachalam, N.; Rajendran, R. (eds.). Dr. M.O.T. Iyengar. Bio-bibliography of an eminent medical entomologist. Chennai: Indian Council of Medical Research Centre for Research in Medical Entomology; 3rd Conference of Medical Arthropodology Madurai, India 18–19 December 2009.
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