History of malaria: Mosquito-borne infectious disease

Malaria is a mosquito-borne life-threatening infectious disease of humans, caused by parasites (genus: Plasmodium) that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected mosquitoes (genus: Anopheles).

The history of malaria stretches from its prehistoric origin as a zoonotic disease in the primates of Africa through to the 21st century. A widespread and potentially lethal human infectious disease, at its peak malaria infested every continent, except Antarctica.

The first evidence of malaria parasites was found in mosquitoes preserved in amber from the Palaeogene period that are approximately 30 million years old. Human malaria likely originated in Africa and coevolved with its hosts, mosquitoes and non-human primates. Malaria protozoa are diversified into primate, rodent, bird, and reptile host lineages.

In 2700 BC:, The Nei Ching(Chinese Canon of Medicine) discussed malaria symptoms and the relationship between fevers and enlarged spleens. The name is derived from the Italian, “mal aria,” or bad air.

In 1550 BC, The Ebers Papyrus mentions fevers, rigors, splenomegaly, and oil from Balantines tree as mosquito repellent.

For thousands of years, traditional herbal remedies have been used to treat malaria. The first effective treatment for malaria came from the bark of cinchona tree, which contains quinine. After the link to mosquitos and their parasites were identified in the early twentieth century, mosquito control measures such as widespread use of DDT, swamp drainage, covering or oiling the surface of open water sources, indoor residual spraying and use of insecticide treated nets was initiated.

In the 1890's British scientist Patrick Manson theorized that mosquitoes may be involved in malaria transmission. In 1897, Ronald Ross, a British officer in the Indian Medical Service, demonstrated that malaria parasites could be transmitted from infected patients to mosquitoes. He also showed that mosquitoes could transmit the parasites from bird to bird, demonstrating the existence of a sporogonic cycle (development within the mosquito).

History of malaria: Mosquito-borne infectious disease

History of Filariasis

History of Filariasis
Filariasis is a helminthic infection found principally in tropical and subtropical areas in Africa, and in the South Pacific regions. The disease is transmitted from man through several genera and species of mosquitoes. The acute disease is manifested by recurrent chills and fever and by visible swelling or nodules of the lymphatics and redness of the overlaying skin due to parasitic involvement.

The illness usually subsides gradually with or without therapy. But in those who have been repeatedly infected and are chronically ill, the inflammatory reaction and scarring of the tissues surrounding the vessels may impede the flow of lymph and blood, and mammoth enlargement (“elephantiasis”) of the arms, legs, scrotum and breasts can occur. During World War II approximately fifteen thousand American military personnel became infected, but prompted withdrawal of these patients from the endemic zones prevented chronic disease and elephantiasis.

Filariasis was the first human disease described in which transmission through the skin was cause by the bites of arthropods. Doctor O. Wucherer (1868) found the embryonic filarial worms in the urine of a patient in Bahia, Brazil. T. R. Lewis (1872), working in India, observed the embryos in the urine and also in the blood, and Joseph Bancroft (1878) in Brisbane, Australia first described the adult worm. The parasite has been designated Wuchereria bancrofti.

The momentous discovery of the role of the mosquito in transmitting the disease was made by the Scotsman Patrick Mansion (1877) while he was practicing medicine in the Far East with the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. He became interested in the disease that confronted him, including filariasis. In that disease he recognized the parasites in peripheral blood films and also in postmortems material.

He noted the nocturnal appearance of the parasites in the peripheral blood and postulated that a blood sucking insect might be responsible for transmitting the infection. Manson proved the presence of the microfilaria in the mosquito Culex fatigans, thus supplying the missing link in the life cycle of the disease.
History of Filariasis

History of Quinine

History of Quinine
Quinine was the first effective treatment for malaria caused by Plasmodium. falciparum, appearing in therapeutics in the 17th century. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s. The tree is found in the rainforests along the northern end of the Andes Mountains.

Augustinian monk in Peru in 1633 wrote about powder of cinchona which can give a cure the fevers. In 1638 the Jesuits used quina bark to cure wife of the Viceroy of Peru.

It was brought back to England in 1640. English Protestants called it powder of the devil. Englishman name Robert Talbor mid 1600s, then realized that those cinchona bark have a reaction to the malaria fever. He then started using cinchona bark to cure malaria. He treated royalty and then awarded knighthood and appointed as Royal Physician in 1679.

In 1820, Pierre-Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou isolated an alkaloid from cinchona (or quina) bark and named it quinine. The purified compound began to be used instead of powdered bark to treat malaria.

By the late 1800s, the malaria parasite had been identified and Ronald Ross had discovered the role of the mosquito vector. Ross launched “mosquito brigades” to eradicate the vector in England, while another public health advocate, S. P. James, advocated improving housing to separate humans from mosquitoes.

In 1820, two French scientists named J.B. Caventou and P.J. Pelletier isolated the chemical that seemed to cure malaria from the bark.
History of Quinine