rome and Malaria

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of malaria on the lives of Roman pontiffs.. The histories of all 264 popes from Saint Peter to John Paul II were extensively studied.. Malaria affected the lives of Roman pontiffs. Between 999 AD and 1644 AD, 21 of 99 popes were affected by malaria (21.4%). The first affected was Gregory V and the last was Urban VII, the 138th and the 235th pope, respectively. There were 15 deaths (15.2%). Six pontiffs (6.1%) were infected but survived. Many cardinals and their assistants, especially those coming from northern countries, contracted malaria during conclaves, and many died.. By about 450 BC, malaria had arrived in Rome. By the second century BC, malaria was endemic. It affected the lives of Roman people. To prevent infection, the popes adopted the custom of ancient affluent Romans who used to spend summer months in high plains far from Rome. The first to adopt the custom was Paul I in 767, who just moved his residence to Saint Paul, out of the walls. Sixtus V started the Congregation of Waters and Streets, which was routinely reinforced by his successors until 1860, when the Kingdom of Italy was born.

Topics: Humans; Italy; Malaria; Rome

This study aims to identify the risk factors for intensive care (IC) in severe malaria patients admitted to the "Lazzaro Spallanzani" National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Rome, Italy.. All patients with confirmed severe malaria and hospitalized between 2007 and 2015 were included in the analysis and stratified into two groups: those requiring IC and those who did not. Five prognostic malaria scores were estimated; clinical severity at IC unit admission was assessed using the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment and the quick-Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores. Univariate and multivariate analysis were performed to assess factors independently associated to IC.. A total of 98 severe malaria patients were included; 10 of them required IC. There were no deaths or sequelae. Patients requiring IC had higher severity scores. At the multivariate analysis, only the number of World Health Organization criteria and the aspartate aminotransferase value were independently associated with the need of IC.. An early and accurate assessment of the severity score is essential for the management of severe malaria patients.

Topics: Adult; Communicable Diseases, Imported; Comorbidity; Critical Care; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Intensive Care Units; Malaria; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Rome; Severity of Illness Index

Archives for the history of malaria and malariology in Italy have been 'rediscovered' in the recent past. The Sezione di Storia della Medicina at Rome University conserves many different personal and institutional archives closely or loosely related to this topic. Many of them had been originally gathered and kept at the Istituto di Igiene at Rome University. Among them the Fondo Casini, of the 20th century, documenting the activity of public institutions such as the Società per gli Studi della Malaria and the Scuola Superiore di Malariologia; archives of the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, such as the Fondo Bignami, Celli; and many others.

Topics: Archives; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Humans; Malaria; Rome; Universities

The role of the International Health Board of the Rockefeller Foundation in campaigns for malaria control in many countries has clearly been documented extensively. In contrast, the involvement of the Rockefeller Foundation in the control of malaria in France has not been reported yet. The present paper describes the way in which the Rockefeller Foundation got involved, along with the parasitologist Emile Brumpt, in the anti-malaria campaigns in Corsica, France, between 1924 and 1951. We analyze the scientific and technological strategies used for that purpose and the manner in which the Rockefeller Foundation policy had influenced Brumpt's actions. The unusually long support of the Rockefeller Foundation to Emile Brumpt (1924-1948) and to research and teaching Parasitology in the Faculté de Médecine de Paris is also discussed.

Topics: Academies and Institutes; Animals; Anopheles; Cyprinodontiformes; DDT; Foundations; France; History, 20th Century; Humans; Insect Vectors; Insecticides; International Cooperation; Malaria; Mosquito Control; Parasitology; Paris; Pest Control, Biological; Public Health; Rome

Cyclic seasonal variation of genotype-specific fertility could interact with endemic diseases characterized by seasonal variation of severity resulting in changes of gene frequencies in the course of generations. Assuming that a given allele A has a frequency pw in infants conceived in the cold season and a frequency of ps in those conceived in the warm season and assuming that general fertility is the same in the two seasonal periods, the gene frequency in the population is pm = (pw + ps)/2; this frequency remains constant over the course of generations. The introduction of an endemic disease bearing negatively on general fertility and characterized by a seasonal pattern of severity could result in variations of the A allele frequency. If the maximum of endemicity coincides with the maximum value of the allele A frequency, the frequency of allele A will progressively decrease. A simple mathematical algorithm has been applied to two polymorphic enzymes (ACP1 and G6PD) correlated with past malarial morbidity in Sardinia and the Po River delta. The two systems show differences in gene frequency in relation to season of conception. The theoretical changes fit quite well with the data observed in Sardinian and Po delta populations, thus suggesting a mechanism that is an alternative to or concurrent with the classical mechanism that assumes a direct connection between the genetic systems and the biology of the malarial parasite.

Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Algorithms; Alleles; Endemic Diseases; Female; Fertility; Fertilization; Gene Frequency; Genetic Variation; Geography; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase; Glucosephosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Isoenzymes; Italy; Malaria; Male; Phenotype; Pregnancy; Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Rome; Seasons; Time Factors

Topics: Animals; Bone and Bones; Disease Outbreaks; DNA, Protozoan; Fetus; History, Ancient; Humans; Infant; Malaria; Mortuary Practice; Paleopathology; Plasmodium falciparum; Rome

Topics: Culture; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; Humans; Malaria; Medicine in the Arts; Paintings; Rome; Travel

Topics: Affective Disorders, Psychotic; Catholicism; Christianity; Germany; Hepatitis; History, 15th Century; History, 16th Century; Humans; Malaria; Male; Rome

Topics: Cardiology; Forensic Medicine; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; Lung Diseases; Malaria; Rome

Topics: Asia; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Italy; Malaria; Rome; Schools, Medical

Topics: Egypt; Greece; History, Ancient; History, Medieval; Malaria; Rome

Topics: Epidemiology; History, 17th Century; History, 18th Century; Humans; Malaria; New York City; Rome; Sanitation; Vatican City

Topics: Female; History, 19th Century; Humans; Literature, Modern; Malaria; Male; Medicine in Literature; Rome

Topics: Humans; Malaria; Rome