The Tree That Cured Malaria

The first treatment of an infectious disease

Most of you must be aware of malaria: the disease caused by pesky mosquitoes. Currently, it’s a benign disease that can be treated with appropriate medication; however, that was not always the case.

let us go through the story of how a discovery paved the way for the eradication (almost) of malaria.

Cinchona Trees

During the sixteenth century, jesuit missionaries in South America, particularly Peru, extracted the sap from the barks of Cinchona trees. These trees are native to South America and hence their extract was not commonly available.

These Jesuit missionaries were not entirely accustomed to the environment and conditions of South America and hence had to deal with numerous diseases. By learning more of the nature around them, they found out that the extract was capable of treating infectious diseases and fevers. It was specifically effective against malaria.

These Jesuits thus introduced the sap back to Spain after their voyage back and the bark of the Cinchona trees became to be known by their name, “Jesuit’s Bark”

Quinine

later, in 1820, the compound was obtained which made the extract effective against malaria: Quinine. (structure shown below)

As you can see, the molecule has quite a detailed structure, and each feature works with the other to make quinine a combatant against Malaria. However, quinine was found out to have many side effects later on. This led to its ultimate discouragement in use.

Despite that, quinine’s chemical structure was the basis for which cures for malaria were born. By identifying the properties that treated malaria and the properties that caused adverse effects, chemists were able to design the molecules that took quinine’s beneficial features and created medications for malaria.

Hence, a tree from South America travelled across the oceans and led to the creation of a world altering medicine.

Final Words

Hi! This was a bit of a different style of writing. I might use this style for shorter articles, let me know in the comments if this story-telling-esque format is interesting.

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Thank you so much for reading!