Handbook of Medical EntomologyRiley, William A. (William Albert)
Science
Handbook of Medical Entomology
Riley, William A. (William Albert)
Insect pests; Insects as carriers of disease; Medical parasitology
Not only is there direct effect on man, but the disease has been one of
the greatest factors in retarding the development of certain regions.
Everywhere pioneers have had to face it, and the most fertile regions
have, in many instances been those most fully dominated by it. Herrick
(1903) has presented an interesting study of its effects on the
development of the southern United States and has shown that some parts,
which are among the most fertile in the world, are rendered practically
uninhabitable by the ravages of malaria. Howard (1909) estimates that
the annual money loss from the disease in the United States is not less
than $100,000,000.
It was formerly supposed that the disease was due to a miasm, to a
noxious effluvia, or infectious matter rising in the air from swamps. In
other words its cause was, as the name indicated "mal aria," and the
deep seated fear of night air is based largely on the belief that this
miasm was given off at night. Its production was thought to be favored
by stirring of the soil, dredging operations and the like.
The idea of some intimate connection between malaria and mosquitoes is
not a new one. According to Manson, Lancisi noted that in some parts of
Italy the peasants for centuries have believed that malaria is produced
by the bite of mosquitoes. Celli states that one not rarely hears from
such peasants the statement that "In such a place, there is much fever,
because it is full of mosquitoes." Koch points out that in German East
Africa the natives call malaria and the mosquito by the same name,
_Mbù_. The opinion was not lacking support from medical men. Celli
quotes passages from the writings of the Italian physician, Lancisi,
which indicate that he favored the view in 1717.
Dr. Josiah Nott is almost universally credited with having supported the
theory, in 1848, but as we have already pointed out his work has been
misinterpreted. The statements of Beauperthuy, (1853) were more
explicit.
The clearest early presentation of the circumstantial evidence in favor
of the theory of mosquito transmission was that of A. F. A. King, an
American physician, in 1883. He presented a series of epidemiological
data and showed "how they may be explicable by the supposition that the
mosquito is the real source of the disease, rather than the inhalation
or cutaneous absorption of a marsh vapor." We may well give the space to
summarizing his argument here for it has been so remarkably
substantiated by subsequent work:
1. Malaria, like mosquitoes, affects by preference low and moist
localities, such as swamps, fens, jungles, marshes, etc.
2. Malaria is hardly ever developed at a lower temperature than 60°
Fahr., and such a temperature is necessary for the development of the
mosquito.
3. Mosquitoes, like malaria, may both accumulate in and be obstructed by
forests lying in the course of winds blowing from malarious localities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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