Malaria has been a problem in India for centuries. Details of this disease can be found even in the ancient Indian medical literature like the Atharva Veda and Charaka Samhita. In the 30’s there was no aspect of life in the country that was not affected by malaria. During the…
Malaria in South East Asia Region: South and South eastern Asia (SEA region) harbours most cases of malaria in the Asian continent. An estimated 1,216 million people or 70% of the total population of SEA Region are at risk of malaria. Out of which around 29% population at moderate to high risk of malaria,…
Malaria, the disease as old as humanity itself, and often called as the ‘King of Diseases’, continues to haunt and taunt mankind. Known since millennia, malaria has played a major role in the history of mankind and it is often said that but for malaria, the history and geographical demarcations…
Ronald Ross, son of an Army Major, a brilliant and polyvalent mind, poet of romantic lyrics, part time novelist, playwright, painter, musician and mathematician, who never wanted to be a medical practitioner, became a researcher by accident, designed some of the most elegant experiments with sheer instincts and his own…
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a calm, reserved, unemotional French Military Surgeon, won the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in 1907 for his discovery of the malaria parasite and other significant contribution to parasitology. Laveran, a stiff, aloof, quiet man, as slow and methodical in his speech as in his…
Malaria has shaped the course of history for millennia. It has always been part of the ups and downs of nations; of wars and of upheavals. Kings, popes, and military leaders were struck down in their prime by malaria [See below]. Many great warriors succumbed to malaria after returning from…
Mentions of malaria can be found in the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian and Egyptian manuscripts and later in numerous Shakespearean plays. The belief that mosquitoes transmit disease also is an ancient one. One of the oldest scripts, written several thousand years ago in cuneiform script on clay tablets, attributes malaria…
Malaria has caused unimaginable hardship to humanity as well as loss of millions of human life, from kings to commoners, from time immemorial. Many human settlements were decimated, civilizations declined, wars lost and advance of humanity halted due to malaria. Until 1897, when the mosquito vector was identified by Ronald…
Fevers have always haunted mankind and several ingenious remedies were tried to combat the fevers. In the ancient times, limb blood-letting, emesis, amputation and skull operations were tried in the treatment of malarial fever. In England, opium from locally grown poppies and opium-laced beer were tried. Even the help of…
Malaria has always been the subject of research for medical practitioners from time immemorial. Many ancient texts, especially medical literature, mention of various aspects of malaria and even of its possible link with mosquitoes and insects. Early man, confronting the manifestations of malaria, attributed the fevers to supernatural influences: evil…
