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
(particularly the tercian,) was usually treated by the solution of wine and pepper (which he considered correct), although the medicinal properties of quinine bark had already been known of at that time. It is believed that the term "malaria" was first mentioned in the 19th century in the gazette Danica Ilirska. In 1837 issue, the unknown author of the paper stated that the cause of malaria were ponds where mosquitoes hatched. Therefore, he recommended that these ponds should be drained. In the 19 th century, the epidemics of malaria spread in Istria again. Two thirds of the soldiers, positionied in Pula, got ill. In order to improve the air quality, the municipal authorities relocated the cemetry and closed some underground passages from which flint stone had been excavated as the passages were believed to emanate poisonous gasses. Draining of the swamps in the region of Velika and Mala Livada off the roads towards Medulin and Premantura road was also performed in order to exterminate malaria (Capak, Barisin, Bakic, 2001). Epidemics of malaria in Pula and the coastline was studied by August Jilek, admiral physician, head of the Medical Corps of Austro - Hungarian monarchy and the lecturer of the Nautical Academy in Trieste. He supervised a number of most useful programs and reported the results of the undertaken activities in his booklets: Lieber die Ursachen der Malaria in Pola Vienna, 1863 and Ueber das Verhalten des Malariafiebers in Pola, Vienna, 1881 (Giesinger, 1973). In the middle of the 19 th century the sanitization of the Neretva valley was carried out as well. We learn about that from Rafael Molin (1825-1887) from Zadar, a professor of zoology at the University of Padova who published two treatises on the subject in 1870: Cenni comparativi intorno alii studi sulla redenzine della Vale narentana (Zara 1870) and Nuovi studi sulla redenzione della valle del Narenta (Zara 1870) (Giesinger, 1973). The successful sanitization of the malaric areas was also carried out by the physician A. Hölzer who reported on that in 1877 issue of Liecnicki Viestnik in his paper Asaniranje domacih predjela malarije (Chloupek, 1953). The monograph on malaria on the island of Krk was written by physician Cubich and was issued in Trieste in 1874 (Trausmiller, 1948). Believing in miasmaticic origin of the disease, he described this omnipresent disease by using terminology such as "intermittent fever, tertian, quartan, perniciosis and induration of spleen" He however, never used the term "malaria". In spite of all the efforts of the local and foreign physicians there were no prominent results in curing malaria in these regions at that time. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century the disease was still largely widespred on the whole Croatian coastal territory as well as in Istria (Giesinger, 1973). Introducing the quinine therapy and the recognition of the causative agent of malaria and its transmitter (Ross, 1895), as well as understanding of the complete cycle of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparis greatly contributed to the successful extermination of malaria. Robert Koch was the one who put together and used all those new pieces of information. He initiated setting up of the first epidemiological teams whose assignement was to study, treat and prevent malaria epidemics. He studied malaria in different parts of
