Legend has it that the cure for malaria was discovered in the 17th century by the countess of Cinchona, wife of the viceroy of Peru, when she was revived from a life threatening fever by a dose of bitter Peruvian bark. Learning of her miraculous recovery the people of Lima begged the countess to help them, for they regularly succumbed to the same fever. She ordered that a large quantity of the remedy be distributed among the poor, which was subsequently named “the countess's powder”—the same powder which her husband brought back to Europe upon his return voyage.
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Fiammetta Rocco
Harper Collins, £16.99, pp 352 ISBN 0 00257202 8
Rating: ★★★★
The cure was quinine, but the legend is exactly that, a legend. Nobody can be sure who first discovered the miracle of the Cinchona calisaya tree and its bark, for the tree grows high in the Andes where malaria is unknown. But the arrival of quinine on the shores of Europe was not the legacy of the countess or her husband; instead, it was a gift from an hitherto unknown Jesuit priest, Agustino Salumbrino, in 1631.
Eight years earlier, in the summer of 1623, Pope Gregory XV had died. As the cardinals and their attendants gathered to elect his successor, many fell victim to the “mal aria” or “bad air” of Rome. To contain the problem, the newly appointed Pope Urban VIII decreed that a cure should be found for the fever that had afflicted so many. And so Brother Salumbrino came to dispatch his powdered bark from Peru.
Despite its effectiveness, Protestants dismissed “the Jesuit's bark,” believing it to be some form of “papal poison,” and chose to continue treating “agues”—the English term for “mal aria”—with enemas and blood-letting. This ignorance was not confined to England; in Rome they continued to believe that the disease was spread by breathing, while the French argued that spiders were the cause.
Having unearthed fresh documents in Peru, Fiammetta Rocco has re-examined research from the Vatican and the Indian Archives in Seville to provide a novel approach to the subject of malaria. Numerous colourful anecdotes, such as those described here, bring alive the historical aspects of malaria. Rocco's own experiences of the disease—she, her father, and her grandfather have all survived it—add an important personal perspective.
Rocco is also well aware of the deadly nature of malaria, and the fact that somebody dies from it every 15 seconds adds a sense of urgency to the story. Despite this, Rocco ends on a positive note; citing her recent visit to the Congo where 500 tonnes of generic antimalarials (at a cost of £1 a course) are produced annually.
Items reviewed are rated on a 4 star scale (4=excellent)