The prevention of malaria.

  • Ross, Ronald, Sir, 1857-1932.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The prevention of malaria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    1S99-1901 he was entrusted by Professor Ballori, Director- General of the Hospitals in Rome, with the care of a special department for the study of malaria, and set himself to the task of examining these questions methodically. The cases studied by him were as follows :— Type First Attacks Relapses Total Quartan . 525 33° 855 Benign Tertian 1,086 934 2,020 Malignant 2,275 1,429 3.704 Totals 3,886 2,693 6,579 Many of the cases were given quinine, so that this proportion will not accurately represent the proportion of relapses in untreated cases—which should be much larger. The author excluded all cases in which the parasites were not found. He endeavoured to ascertain as exactly as possible the history of each case, not only by enquiry of each patient, but by reference to hospitals and localities where they had been treated ; he kept many cases in hospital for long periods, and he gives a careful record of his results. I will mention here only his untreated cases. Two cases of benign tertian, untreated, were kept under observation in bed in hospital for nine months. The following table gives the duration in days of their successive relapses and rallies:— Rel. Ral. Rel. Ral. Rel. RaL Rel. Ral. Rel. Ral. Rel. Case 1 . . 17 13 16 16 14 19 15 17 12 10 19 Case 2 . 15 17 16 15 18 20 17 6 10 9 Both patients were robust, had the same diet, and were not allowed to suffer from cold or damp or intercurrent affections. Nineteen similar cases studied for shorter periods showed the same phenomena. The author notes that out of 120 untreated cases of benign tertian, the relapses occurred more frequently in the spring (March to May). He thinks that the rallies con- tinue from 5 to 18 days, which he calls apyrexial periods of short interval. But he also notes and distinguishes rallies of