Review of "Mosquito Net: A story of the pioneers of tropical medicine" by Cyril Fox

Review Mosquito Net starts in more than one interesting way. The title suggests a story on bednets, but there is little to be read on these. The cover has an image of a dragon fly; one would have expected a mosquito, or perhaps portraits of the four men the book focuses on: Manson, Ross, Reed, and Gorgas. And it starts with a visit, in 1920, of King George V to the hospitalized William Gorgas a few days before his death following a stroke. What follows are 19 chapters of intriguing, sometimes gripping, descriptions of events that led these four men to great discoveries and victory over mosquito-borne diseases based on the scientific knowledge they generated. It is also a story of hardship, perseverance, eureka moments, fame, Nobel Prizes, bitterness, and rivalry that will be fascinating to the novice and, alas, déjà vu to the expert reader.