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Chemical Methods of Vector Control
Published in Jacques Derek Charlwood, The Ecology of Malaria Vectors, 2019
The scientific development of insecticides began in 1867 with the formulation and use of the arsenical Paris green. This was used, as a larvicide, to eliminate A. gambiae s.l. that had invaded Brazil (by hitching a ride on the fast mail boats that operated between Dakar and Recife). In the 1920s the structures of many of the botanical insecticides, which had been used since the early 1800s, were elucidated. It was not until 1939, however, that Müller discovered the insecticidal properties of the first synthetic insecticide, DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), when he tested it against clothes moths.
Historical outline
Published in David A Warrell, Herbert M Gilles, Essential Malariology, 2017
During the twentieth century, much research was devoted to malaria control. Larvicides in the form of oil of Paris green were introduced to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes in various types of waters. Wider use of these and other methods of mosquito reduction demonstrated the practicability of controlling malaria and yellow fever in Cuba and the Panama Canal Zone, where two American campaigns organized by General William Crawford Gorgas proved to be outstanding successes. Subsequently, Malcolm Watson in Malaya introduced the concept of ‘naturalistic control’ based on the knowledge of the breeding habits of species of Anopheles involved in the local transmission of the disease.
History of Medical Entomology and Public Health
Published in Jerome Goddard, Public Health Entomology, 2022
By 1900, 40 of the 45 states had established health departments. The first county health departments were formed in 1908,43 and in 1929, Dr. Felix Underwood, state health officer of Mississippi, initiated efforts to make malaria control an integral function of local (county) health departments.44 He believed that temporary or transient disease control workers sent from the federal government were important, but not near as much as trained local personnel who he said “have not only the basic training, but that indefinable public health viewpoint and sufficient knowledge of economics and sociology peculiar to the territory involved.” This was among the first efforts nationwide to establish trained sanitarians in every county to investigate diseases, perform inspections, and conduct general sanitation education and investigations. Within the next decade, the U.S. Public Health Service established malaria control units within health departments of several southern states so that control efforts could be more organized and systematic.45 The idea was to switch health department malaria control efforts from passive to active—finding and treating every case of malaria.46 Entomologists were also assigned to these units and their duties included basic research, surveillance, and control efforts. Control of malaria seemed to be divided among those who wanted to destroy the vector and those who wanted to treat the parasite within the human host.47 Control efforts consisted of pesticide use (such as with Paris green) (Figure 1.10), destruction of breeding sites, and promotion of screen wire for windows (Figure 1.11). Screening played a substantial role in malaria prevention. For example, in 1905, approximately 5% of houses in Sharkey County, Mississippi, had screen doors and windows. By 1931, this number had increased to 64%.48 Control efforts aimed at the parasite included better distribution and use of specific antimalarial drugs such as quinine (Figure 1.12), as opposed to a wide variety of “snake oil” products advertised to cure any number of medical conditions. These products contained mostly alcohol, but also opium and chloroform (Figure 1.13). Lastly, the malaria control included efforts to improve socioeconomic conditions.
Did poisoning play a role in Napoleon’s death? A systematic review
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2021
Daniela Marchetti, Francesca Cittadini, Nadia De Giovanni
Useful information can be achieved by segmental analyses of Napoleon’s hair collected in 1821. Table 2 shows that it was performed a few times using cm and/or approximately millimeter (mm) segments [26,29,30,37]. Figure 3 graphically represents As findings by 1 cm segments (we calculated the mean As concentration in case of mm sections) from proximal to distal ends. It shows a relatively uniform As segmental trend without evidence of a sudden increase of the As content. According to the literature [12,46,47] the lack of As >45 ppm in the proximal ends (or any segments) is sufficient to rule out an acute lethal poisoning in the last months of Napoleon’s life. Interestingly, Clemenza [37] and Lugli [26] reported different As concentration in samples belonging to the same tuft of hair. The papers published before 1982 [29,30] excluded a contamination (embalming and/or preservation) while the others [26,37] emphasized the interference of environmental contamination. Indeed, many sources of contamination were available due to its ubiquity in the nineteenth century, being extensively used as rodenticide, preservative, in face and hair powders (Napoleon used hair powder), clothing dyes, even candy wrappers or used as a green pigment (Scheele’s and Paris Green) in wallpaper [8]. Thus, although As was found in several analyses, we retain those segmental hair findings may be consistent either with external contamination and with chronic sublethal intoxication.
Fifty years after the eradication of Malaria in Italy. The long pathway toward this great goal and the current health risks of imported malaria
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2021
Mariano Martini, Andrea Angheben, Niccolò Riccardi, Davide Orsini
After the discovery of the insecticidal action of ‘Paris Green’ against the larvae of the Anopheles mosquito, in 1923 the League of Nations promoted an investigation on malaria endemicity in Europe and the use of quinine. Thus, the Rockefeller Foundation in New York launched a program of cooperation in Italy under the direction of Lewis Wendell Hackett, a public health doctor with previous experience in ancylostomiasis control in Central America. Collaboration with Alberto Missiroli led to the foundation of the Stazione Sperimentale per la Lotta Antimalarica (The Experimental Station for Malaria Control) in Italy, which played a major role in staff training and updating on the most advanced techniques of malariology. In 1925, Paris Green was tested as an anti-larval agent in several malarial zones in central and southern Italy, with good results in small urban centers.