216 MOSQUITO ERADICATION 



are. This is a common practice in negro cabins in the malarious 

 districts of the South. 



USE OF QUININE FOR MALARIA 



Use of quinine is of value only in cases of malaria; its effect 

 is to destroy the malaria plasmodia, which have been injected 

 into the blood of the malaria patient by infected Anopheline 

 mosquitoes. Quinine, therefore, is of no avail, until the person 

 has been bitten by the mosquito. It is the last measure of 

 defense. Quinine is of no value, however, in the treatment of 

 yellow fever, dengue or filariasis. 



The standard treatment for malaria recommended by the 

 National Malaria Committee in the hope that it would be gen- 

 erally adopted by practicing physicians wherever malaria pre- 

 vails, is as follows : 



"For the acute attack, 10 grains of quinine sulphate by mouth three 

 times a day for a period of at least 3 or 4 days, to be followed by 10 grains 

 every night before retiring for a period of 8 weeks. For infected persons, 

 not having acute symptoms at the time, only the 8 weeks' treatment is 

 required. 



"The proportionate doses for children are: Under 1 year, l A grain; 

 1 year, 1 grain; 2 years, 2 grains; 3 and 4 years, 4 grains; 5, 6 and 7 

 years, 5 grains; 8, 9 and 10 years, 6 grains; 11, 12, 13 and 14 years, 8 

 grains; 15 years or older, 10 grains." 



The object of the treatment is not only to relieve the clinical 

 symptoms, but also to disinfect the patient in order to prevent 

 relapses and transmission of the disease to others. 



DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE VALUE OF MASS TREATMENT BY 



QUININE 



Where malaria assumes an epidemic character and very large 

 percentages of the population are infected, mass treatment by 

 quinine has given excellent results. Prominent among the 

 successful demonstrations of this kind may be mentioned the work 

 in the Panama Canal Zone, the work of the Germans in Africa 

 and the work of the Japanese in Formosa. 



In 1920, a very successful demonstration of this kind was 

 carried out in Georgia. In the area in question, there were 

 about 2,900 acres in cultivation and, according to Abercrombie, 1 

 the annual loss in this area due to malaria alone was something 



1 Southern Medical Journal, April, 1921, page 286. 



