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
to Djurdjevac and Koprivnica as they soon got ill there (Vjesn. Kralj. Hrv. Slav. Daim. Zern. Arkiva XV/1913). In the 16 th century malaria was spread on the whole territory of Istria. People became aware of the interconnection between the waters, marshes and malaria, and melioration started {Tonkovic, 1978). This alone however, was not enough to exterminate the disease. The available data from the 17th century show that a number of citizens and soldiers in Istria died of malaria at that time. The critical condition of population was well depicted in the captain G.B. Bassadone's report from 1637 who described the exhausted population, unable to do any work, on its way to total extinction (Tonkovic, 1978). The 17th century writer Kalvazaar (Valvasor) in his work Die Ehre des Herzogthums Krain stated that while fleeing from the Turks in Dalmatia and Croatia Croats transmitted malaria to Cernomelj in Slovenia (Vucevac, 2001). The curative characteristics of quinine bark had not yet been known in Europe until the 17th century. Indian witch-doctors from Equador however, were acquainted with the febrifugal character of the bark much earlier (Falisevac, Richter, 1969). At the beginning of the 18 th century term "malaria" was mentioned in the work Dissertation on fevers by Francesco Torti (1658-1741) who said that malaria was caused by some "blood toxin". Torti learned about the beneficial effect of quinine from the Jesuitical documents Schedula Romana. Soon he introduced the quinine into his therapy. Travel writer Taube described malaria in the mid 18 century. He stated that many German immigrants to Banat had died of malaria. Therefore, he considered this region to be "their mass grave" (Pavlovié, 1976). A physician from Varazdin, Joannes Baptista Lalangue (1723-1799) stated that malaria in Croatia was endemic and that many German settlers died of it particularly in the region of Osijek and Banat. He also considered this region to be "Germans graveyard" (Lalangue, 1776). In a number of 18 th century documents malaric areas in Istria are listed (Pula, Vodnjan, Rovinj, Poreő, Vrsar, Barban , Svetvincenat, Kanfanar, Zminj, Tinjan, Labin, Visnjan, Novigrad, Piran, Kopar, Brijuni and the complete area of island of Cres). After the Venetian Republic had disintegrated, and the Austrian ruling had been introduced in these regions, draining of the marshes in the areas around Velika Poljana in the eastern part of Pula was carried out (Tonkovic, 1978). At the end of the 18 th century Alberto Fortis wrote about malaria in Neretva region. He stated that the sailors used to avoid this scarely populated region fearing of bad air. There is an old saying about the "Neretva cursed by Lord himself. Clergyman Fortis described the devices "komarnici" used by the peasants to protect thetneselves from mosquitoes (Lepes, 1959). In Croatia, the first work on malaria De morbo Naroniano tractatus was written by Paduan professor Giuseppe Antonio Pujati (1701-1760) (Chloupek, 1953). He described many physiopathological, clinical, epidemiological and therapeutic characteristics of the disease which all suggest that the " Neretva disease" he dealt with, was actually malaria. In 1799, Italian physician Pietro Moscati ( 1739-1824) who lived for some time in Kotor wrote that Dalmatian peasants got sick of malaria because of the humid air and other negative atmospheric effects (Grmek, 1962). He also claimed that the intermittent fever
