page_title: History of malaria
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: History of malaria / 19th century
context_page_description: 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. Its prevention and treatment have been targeted in science and medicine for hundreds of years. Since the discovery of the Plasmodium parasites which cause it, research attention has focused on their biology, as well as that of the mosquitoes which transmit the parasites.
  References to its unique, periodic fevers are found throughout recorded history beginning in the first millennium BC in Greece and China.
  For thousands of years, traditional herbal remedies have been used to treat malaria. The first effective treatment for malaria came from the bark of the cinchona tree, which contains quinine. After the link to mosquitos and their parasites was identified in the early twentieth century, mosquito control measures such as widespread use of the insecticide DDT, swamp drainage, covering or oiling the surface of open water sources, indoor residual spraying and use of insecticide treated nets was initiated.
context_section_description: In the nineteenth century, the first drugs were developed to treat malaria and parasites were first identified as its source.
caption: Map of the United States showing the distribution of deaths from malaria. Census of 1880.
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