Magyar László szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 178-181. (Budapest, 2002)
KÖZLEMÉNYEK - COMMUNICATIONS - Greguric Gracner, G. - Vucevac Bajt, V.: History of Eradication of Malaria in Croatia. - A malária leküzdésének története Horvátországban
HISTORY OF ERADICATION OF MALARIA IN CROATIA GORDANA GREGURIC GRACNER - VESNA VUCEVAC BAJT In almost all ancient cultures it was believed that demons were the principal causes of diseases. The swampy malaric areas were commonly avoided, as demon of malaria was believed to live in the water. The most famous physician of the ancient Greek culture Hippocrates (460 B.C.- 377 A.D.) described a number of diseases among which malaria. He was well acquainted with a quartar type of malaric fevers as well as of the intermittent and chronical condition of the disease. He was also aware of the interconnection between the marshes, fever and spleenomegaly. It is believed that Empedocles from Agrigent (near 550 B.C) was the first to sanitize a malaric area by colmatation of the swampy field in the vicinity of the town Selinont on Sicily. In the neighbouring Italy malaria raged particularly intensively at the end of the Etruscan civilisation. The Romans worshipped the goddess Febris who ruled over tertian and quartan. In his work Rerum rusticarum, Terentius Varro (116 B.C.-27 A.D.) explained how to choose the place for cultivation of agricultural crops and claimed that people should avoid swamps. He also pointed out that tiny animals, "animalia quaedam minuta" raise from the standing waters, causing fever. In the Middle Ages people believed in miasmatic origin of the diseases - that the disease forms in the marshes and is spread by evaporation from swampy areas (Vucevac,2001). In Croatia, malaria was also widespread. Most probably it had been introduced by the Venetian soldiers in the 13 th century (Tonkovic, 1978). Namely, there are some records on unhealthy air in Istria (Giesinger, 1976). In a document originating from 1320 it has been stated that Venetian consul Angelo Baozi returned to Venice and was absent from Pula for the whole six months (Tonkovic, 1978). In the period between 1320 and 1400 malaria spread across the whole teritory of Istria, particularly in the region of Novigrad, Porec and Pula (Giesinger, 1976). Meanwhile, it was present in other parts of Croatia as well. There is a document from 1354 stating that the king Ludwig I army battling against king Stephan Dusan was forced to retreat because of the bad air that was spreading by the rivers Danube and Sava (Jeremic, 1935). At the beginning of the 15th century malaria was widely spread by the Neretva river. To protect the town of Korcula from the existing danger the municipal authorities of Korcula on 22 nd January 1407 introduced special regulations with the aim of protecting the Neretva region (Chloupek, 1953). In 1459, the Dubrovnik Republic government assigned three noblemen and a physician to visit the areas of Ston and Rijeka Dubro vacka were the outbreaks of the malaria were observed and investigate the reason of the disease. After the inspection of the area the
