New on OUTLIERS MEDICAL-FORENSIC FILES: Malaria in 1898 by DP Lyle, MD
- D. P. Lyle
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
OUTLIERS MEDICAL-FORENSIC FILES: Malaria in 1898 by DP Lyle, MD
How was malaria prevented and treated in 1898?
Q: My story is set in 1898, near the end of Queen Victoria’s reign. How would a British sailor who had been shipwrecked in a jungle treat himself for malaria? My research tells me quinine was first developed in 1820, but would it have been commonly available in 1898? How likely is it that my sailor would have had quinine in his survival equipment? If the sailor did not have quinine, how else might he have treated himself? (Quinine is extracted from the cinchona tree and unfortunately for my sailor he is in the wrong part of the world for the tree itself to be available.) Of course, he would have tried to avoid malaria in the first place. If he did not have a mosquito net, what else might he have used to keep the mosquitoes from biting him? Can smoke be an effective deterrent? Is there anything he might have rubbed on his skin to deter mosquitoes and other insects, a plant or herb perhaps? Would mud be better than nothing?
I am assuming that the dangers of drinking saltwater and stagnant water were well
known at this time. My sailor cannot locate a clear stream or inland waterfall and the
rainwater from leaves is insufficient. Would he have known to dig for clean
groundwater and purify it by making a solar still from the available materials? If instead my sailor boiled stagnant water and then ran it through clean gauze how “safe” might that have been?
If I choose to move up the timeline and change the year to 1860 or even 1840 how would that affect things? In particular, how would that affect the availability of quinine?
A: Around 1898 very little was known about malaria and what was known was just being revealed. The proof that it was caused by a parasite through a mosquito vector had just been proven in 1897. So it is unlikely that your sailor knew any of this. Though, he or a shipmate might.
Other than quinine, as you pointed out, there was little treatment and few preventive measures for malaria. And even this was not widely known. Another chemical, methylene blue, was also used for malarial treatment but it was less common and not as available as was quinine. It is possible that your sailor, or the ship, could have cinchona bark on board if they knew they were sailing to a malarial area. Or not. Up to you. If you want him to have quinine available, he would be considered very clever, but if you don't, he would fit the norm.
Even though in the time frame of your story, that fact that mosquitoes were the vector was new knowledge, it had been suspected for some time simply through observational studies. So yes, your sailor could easily know that avoiding mosquitoes was important. There are many methods he could use. None would be uniformly successful, but each would help. He could keep his body covered with
clothing, limiting the mosquito’s access to his skin. Not easy or comfortable in a tropical area. He could indeed smear mud on exposed areas, including his face and scalp. Building some form of shelter such as a tent, if he had the materials available – – maybe a sail remnant from his ship – – would also help. Avoiding stagnant water where mosquitoes breed would be helpful. He might easily know this fact because many people knew that avoiding stagnant water areas would lessen the likelihood of getting malaria. This was transmitted by anecdotal word-of-mouth but your sailor could easily know this. At that time, there were no herbs or other materials that I am aware of that could be smeared on the skin to prevent mosquitoes from biting, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't try. He could crush up any kind of leaf or other plant material and mix it with water to make a paste and smear it on himself in the belief that this would help. It might or might not but he could try.
Moving your story earlier to 1840 or 1860 would make it less likely that he would have the knowledge, as rudimentary as it was, that I described above. This means he would be even more vulnerable and less likely to be aware of any measures that might help him.
People had known for many centuries that drinking dirty water was not healthy. This seems to be widespread through many cultures and locations and again was due to observation and word-of-mouth. People just knew not to drink dirty water. But, sometimes that's all that was available. It is unlikely he would have the materials available to make a suitable still for distilling the water but yes he could easily know that boiling the water and filtering it made it more potable. Again, this would show that he was fairly clever.
You might want to read Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. It is a classic written by a master and even though the language is archaic, it might give you some ideas for your intrepid sailor. In the story a group of soldiers crash their balloon on an unknown island and must fend for themselves and figure out how to survive. It wasn't a malarial
problem but they had to figure out how to manufacture shelter, water, food, and other things from what was available. Obviously they had a mysterious helper and therefore the title of the book. Regardless, reading it might give you some ideas for your story.
This question originally appeared in MORE FORENSICS & FICTION by DP Lyle
DP Lyle MD
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