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The Impact of Chloroquine
Chloroquine, originally developed as an antimalarial drug, has been getting a lot of attention in the fight against COVID-19 lately. Here’s a history.
History of Malaria.
We have evidence that malarial infection has existed since the times of ancient Mesopotamia and societies dating back to 3200 B.C. Respected historical figures including Homer, Aristotle and Plato mentioned malaria and its effects in their writing.
“Over millennia, its victims have included Neolithic dwellers, early Chinese and Greeks, princes and paupers. In the 20th century alone, malaria claimed between 150 million and 300 million lives, accounting for 2 to 5 percent of all deaths.” A Brief History of Malaria, National Center for Biotechnology Information
Malaria arrived in Europe in the first century AD. Roman soldiers quickly spread the illness throughout the continent. According to the 2004 publication ‘Saving Lives, Buying Time: Economics of Malaria Drugs in an Age of Resistance’, malaria likely contributed to the fall of the Roman empire. The disease wasn’t completely eradicated from modern-day Italy until the 1930s.
