Essay on Malariology: Technological Change, Cultural Differences, and Geographies

The compiled patient cases featuring the medical practice of malaria provides an interesting window into these themes of change over time, the difference among technology across distinct cultures, and geographies raise fascinating questions for the history of technology as a science and medicine. For me, the first reading featuring Snowden's masterly account of Italy's fight to get rid of malaria offers a complete view of the development of malariology as a medical discipline. On the surface, this passage clarifies that malaria as 'Italian national disease" as it caused high levels of poverty, low productivity, economic decline restrained political engagement, and undermining the army. The less research convinced many experts that the illness was caused by 'miasma' or the contamination of the air (Snowden 11). Winslow perceives that malaria is designated marsh-miasm because of its repercussion of being discovered in the vicinity of swamps and marshes. Other individuals made a linkage between water, swamps, and malaria though did not make a further leap towards the insects. Winslow agrees with this notion because he believes that malaria epitomizes bad air (Winslow 41). However, he cautions people to refrain from believing that every impurity of air is called malaria. He believes that the name 'malaria' should not be attached to the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter. To correct the situation, a sanitary campaign is with the free distribution of quinine is established to curb the spread of the pandemic. Ross agrees with this because he says that as quinine destroys the parasites in the blood, it will hinder their multiplication by experiments with numbers of inmates that much less favour prevails among people whereby the five grains of quinine have been administered compared with those that have not been given a dosage. Out of this, Snowden attempts not only to forecast the spread of the illness but also treat it.

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The primary prevention that Ronald Ross advocates for would be mosquito nets (Ross 36). However, he hesitates and advises that various things should be taken into a place for it to work. He suggests that the users of the mosquito net should ensure that there is no single hole in the net because it would give entry into the mosquito. Also, he clarifies that the net should be larger than the head of a pin. Winslow agrees with the author sleeping under a mosquito net in all avenues where intermittent are endemic. Even though Hall believes that the simplest and most effective defence from the night cold, he recommends using a double bed instead (Hall 93). He believes that diffusing gentle warmth and moisture will increase the effectiveness of the mosquito net. He is worried that they might not be rent to the underprivileged by the benevolent.

I believe that these cases will act as an informative and cautionary section for the stakeholders in the health sectors interested in the history of malaria. Ross, Winslow, and Hall explain that mosquito nets could be used to prevent the spread of disease, providing a reference to the places that it has worked effectively. Snowden takes us back on how the unfamiliarity of malaria claimed the lives of many people in Italy. On a more cautionary level, I believe that this section elucidates the factors that will improve the effectiveness of the mosquito nets. Given the forum of prevention, Ross draws us back on the aggressiveness in which the mosquito nets have been used to lower the spread of the illness.

Works Cited

Hall, Marshall. "Practical Observations and Suggestions in Medicine, 1846." 29.

Ross, Ronald. Malarial Fever: Its Cause, Prevention and Treatment. BiblioBazaar, LLC, 2008.

Snowden, Frank. The conquest of malaria: Italy, 1900-1962. Yale University Press, 2008.Winslow, Forbes. On the Preservation of the Health of Body and Mind. H. Renshaw, 1842.