First Cases of Malaria

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QUESTION

What is the first infected person with Plasmodium?

ANSWER

Plasmodium, the single-celled parasite which causes malaria, has been infecting humans since ancient times. In fact, the first written reference to its symptoms dates back almost 5000 years, to an ancient Chinese manuscript! It was also known from the writings of other ancient peoples, such as the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians; when Europeans arrived in the Americas, they found that local tribes had long recognised the dangers of malaria, and already had natural remedies for fever, including the bark of the cinchona tree, which was later used to make quinine (a moden anti-malarial). As such, it is impossible to say now who the first person infected with Plasmodium was, but it definitely occurred many thousands of years ago.

However, it was only until the late 19th century that people understood that Plasmodium parasites caused malaria, and knew how to observe the infection in the patient’s blood. This was done was Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, a French physician working in Algeria. As such, you could argue that the first person known to have Plasmodium was the patient he observed the parasite within, when he first described Plasmodium. Unfortunately, the patient had died of the disease; Laveran examined the blood after the patient had perished. I am not sure the patient’s name was recorded.

First Malaria Outbreak

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QUESTION

When was the first ever outbreak of malaria?

ANSWER

Malaria has actually been known in human populations for thousands of years, so the first ever outbreak occurred long before any records were kept. The ancient Chinese recorded the symptoms of malaria in a medical manuscript which dates back to 2700 BCE, so almost 5000 years ago!

The symptoms of malaria were also known to the ancient Romans, Greeks, Egyptians and native peoples of the Americas, though none of them fully understood the cause of the disease or how it was transmitted. That information was discovered in the late 19th century, by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, who first observed malaria parasites in the blood of a patient and attributed them to the disease, and by Ronald Ross, who demonstrated that the malaria parasite was transmitted by mosquitoes.

First Cases of Malaria

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QUESTION

When was malaria first detected?

ANSWER

Humans have known about malaria as a disease for thousands of years. The earliest written record of malaria is from ancient China, 2700 BCE. The ancient Romans and Greeks also described the symptoms of malaria, though none of these ancient people knew the true cause or had identified specifically how it was transmitted. This was first achieved in the 19th century, first in 1880 by Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, who observed the parasites that cause malaria in the blood of a patient. A few years later, in 1897/1898, Ronald Ross discovered that the parasites were transmitted between hosts via mosquitoes, thus laying the foundations for future decades of malaria control efforts.

Who Discovered Malaria?

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QUESTION

Who discovered malaria?

ANSWER

People have known about malaria for thousands of years—the first record of it comes from 2700 BCE, in an ancient Chinese medical text. Other ancient peoples, such as the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, also knew the symptoms associated with malaria. But it wasn’t until the 19th century that the causes of malaria were understood. In 1880, a French physician named Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran first saw the parasites that cause malaria in the blood of a patient. By 1886, Camillo Golgi, an Italian physiologist, had observed that there were at least two separate types of malaria, which produced different length cycles of fever during the clinical presentation. These two forms were later called Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae. It wasn’t until more than a decade later, in 1897/1898, that the method of transmission of malaria was first understood – Ronald Ross, a British army doctor, showed that malaria could be passed from a human patient to a mosquito vector, and also between infected hosts using mosquitoes. He won the Nobel Prize for medicine for his work in 1902.

Since then, research on malaria has expanded exponentially, with particular attention giving to understanding ways in which the parasite can be therapeutically halted, thus leading to the discovery of new malaria medications.

Origin of Malaria

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QUESTION:

What is the origin of malaria?

ANSWER:

Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium; different species cause the different forms of malaria we see in different parts of the world. Malaria has been in existence for millions of years; it likely evolved from similar infections in other apes. Ancient people recognised the symptoms of malaria as early as 2700 BCE, when it was first described in a Chinese medical text. The ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians also knew about it, but it wasn’t until the 19th century when the causative agents were first seen in a patient’s blood by a French surgeon called Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran. A few years later, a British Army doctor called Ronald Ross first discovered that the parasites were transmitted via mosquitoes. He won the Nobel Prize for his work in 1902.