QUESTION: When was the first case of malaria in humans discovered? What did the name malaria originate from? ANSWER: Malaria has been known to humans for thousands of years; its earliest record is from around 2700 BCE in an ancient Chinese medical text. The ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Indians also recorded cases of malaria and described its symptoms. However, the parasite that causes … [Read more...]
What does the word “malaria” mean?
QUESTION: Where does the name MALARIA come from? ANSWER: It comes from Medieval Italian, "mala aria," meaning "bad air", reflecting the early belief that bad-smelling air caused the disease. Indeed, bad-smelling air was also associated with swamps and marshes, which are perfect habitats for the breeding of malarial mosquitoes, so the people who came up with the association were actually … [Read more...]