ecosystem

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Malaria has been recognized as a disease for more than 4,000 years. In 2700 BC, several characteristic symptoms were described in the Nei Ching (The Canon of Medicine), which was associated with the mythical Emperor Huang-Ti of China. The disease, which is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito, has determined the fate of nations, as it has been responsible for more military defeats than weapons themselves.

It is a very old disease and prehistoric man is thought to have suffered from malaria.  It probably originated in Africa and accompanied human migration to the Mediterranean shores, India and South East Asia.  In the past it used to be common in the marshy areas around Rome and the name is derived from the Italian, (mal-aria) or "bad air"; it was also known as Roman fever.  Fishermen and traders, long before British colonisation, probably introduced the disease into northern Australia and in the past malaria was not uncommon in the northern parts of the country.  In Western Australia an explosive outbreak of falciparum malaria occurred at Fitzroy Crossing in 1934 which at first was mistaken for influenza and resulted in 165 deaths.  WHO declared Australia free of malaria in 1981, however since that time 9 patients have contracted locally acquired malaria.

In the American Civil War, the North had denied quinine to the Southern states and this may have been a minor contributory factor to the southern armies' relative failure after their supplies were largely exhausted by the autumn of 1862. While the Confederates didn’t keep records, it is estimated that seventy-five percent of the 258,000 Southern deaths could be attributed to disease.

The so called "airport malaria" has become a problem in recent years.  A publican working in an establishment close to London's Heathrow Airport became acutely ill and was found to be suffering from falciparum malaria; he had never been out of the country.  A lady driving her car past the same airport became ill with malaria although she too had never been out of the country.  Four workers unloading a cargo plane at Amsterdam airport became infected with malaria.  It is assumed that infected mosquitoes were carried on planes from Africa and released at the destination airport.

According to most experts, malaria did not exist in the Americas prior to Spanish contact, yet crude bark preparations containing quinine were presumably used for thousands of years by indigenous peoples as a febrifuge. The Spaniards soon "discovered" that the bark also offered symptomatic relief of malaria. Its early exportation to and use in Italy and Spain was soon expanded to other European countries as the preparation's effectiveness against the dreaded ague was recognized there.