Nederlandse reacties op de ontdekking van malariaparasieten en hun overbrengers. Een overzicht uit het Nederlandsch tijdschrift voor geneeskunde in het laatste kwart van de 19e eeuw

Abstract

Dutch reactions to the discoveries of malaria parasites and their vectors Malaria was recognised as being endemic to both the former Dutch East Indies and the Netherlands. Clinical diagnosis allowed for a much broader concept of the disease before the discovery of the infectious agent Plasmodium in 1880. Modern research was initiated 17 years later following the identification of the anopheline mosquito as the route of transmission. Other putative causes of the disease had to be excluded during the intervening period and there were many discoveries in the field of epidemiology. Much was learned about the morphology of the parasite in man, the symptoms of the disease and its cure. New ideas and views became slowly established in the minds of medical workers; there are few studies focusing on this process during the last quarter of the 19th century.We have reviewed the Netherlands Journal of Medicine as the main Dutch source of scientific information obtained from the international literature. Interestingly, it was more than a decade before diagnosis by microscopy became a widespread practice despite a steady stream of accurate publication of research. This was due to the lack of a proper staining method and an intermission between epidemics during which time there was little evidence of endemic malaria. In 1880 there was a possible shift in the prevalence of quartan to tertian malaria but this can only be surmised from the description of the symptoms and a rapid response to quinine. A new epidemic of tertian malaria provided the opportunity of proving that a local species of Anopheles was indeed the vector and this was the first example in a country with a temperate climate,