CHAPTER XL 



THE MALARIAL FEVERS 



General account — Quartan fevers — ^Tertian fevers — Subtertian fevers — 

 Pernicious malaria — Chronic malaria — Relapses — Reinfections — Compli- 

 cations — Sequelae • — Diagnosis — Prognosis — Treatment — Prophylg^xis — 

 References. 



I. GENERAL ACCOUNT. 



Definition. — The malarial fevers are a group of specific fevers of 

 protozoal causation, being due to infections with the parasites 

 Plasmodium malaricB (Laveran, 1881), which produces the quartan 

 fevers, Plasmodium vivax (Grassi and Feletti, 1890), the agent 

 of the tertian fevers, and Laverania malarice- (Laveran, 1890), the 

 exciting cause of the subtertian fevers, which are carried from 

 man to man by the agency of many species of anophehne mosquitoes. 



Nomenclature. — The name ' malaria ' is derived from two Italian 

 words, mal aria, meaning ' bad air,' and was intended originally 

 to signify that the bad air arising from marshes was the cause of the 

 fevers. 



Synonyms. — English Names : Ague, paludism, marsh fever, 

 remittent fever, intermittent fever, climatic fever, jungle fever, 

 coast fever. 



French Names : Fievre palustre, paludisme, fievres paludiennes, 

 fievres des marais, impaludisme, fievres malariques, fievres tellu- 

 riques. 



Italian Names : Paludismo, malaria, febbre intermittent e, febbre 

 palustre, febbri malariche, febbri di stagione, febbri d'aria, infezione 

 malarica. 



German Names : Wechselfieber, KaltesFieber, Intermittens, Sumpf- 

 fieber, Klimafieber, Marschfieber, Kaltes Fieber. 



Local Names. — In all countries local names have been applied 

 to the malarial fevers — for example, Roman fever, Sierra fever, 

 fever of Batavia, Kurunegala fever (Ceylon), Dambul fever (Ceylon), 

 Kamerun fever. 



Seasonal Names. — As malarial fevers are more abundant in spring 

 than in winter, and still more so in summer and autumn than in 

 spring, it is natural that seasonal names should be applied to them 

 — e.g., spring fevers, summer to autumn fevers, autumn fevers. 



Remarks. — The malarial fevers cover such a wide field of clinical 

 symptoms and pathological phenomena that it is necessary first 

 of all to give a general account, which will comprise such subjects 



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