Stephen

Further to earlier message, I cannot trace all my references to malaria in
Britain. One recent excellent source is the book (based on a dissertation)
-

Contours of Death and Disease in Early Modern England. Mary J Dobson.
C.U.P. 1997
             (It is about health in general but there is a great deal about
malaria.)

Other papers I found useful -

"Indigenous Plasmodium vivax malaria in London...." P G Shute
                   Monthly Bulletins of the Min. of Health. 1954
                  (much of relevance about the biology of mosquito and
parasite)

Indigenous Malaria in Great Britain. British Medical Journal 1950. vol 1.
p.1061 (May 6th 1950)

Malaria in neighbouring Londoners. Crockett & Simpson. British Medical
Journal. 1953 vol.2
                    (the last indigenous British cases !!)

A Brief Story of English Malaria. Sir William MacArthur. British Medical
Bulletin. vol.8 (1)
                                    pp. 76-79 (1951)

Epidemiological Considerations of the History of Indigenous Malaria in
Britain. John H Bayliss
                                    Endeavour (new series) vol. 9 no. 4.
1985  p. 191
                             (with a map of Scotland showing cases up to
Caithness - so I think Wales is 
                               a bit too far south to claim the northerly
record <g>)

I also have some notes from papers by Blacklock and Carter 1919-20 - I
think these are from the 
Annals of Tropical & Medical Parasitology.

If you have the facility to search literature on a computer, then a search
of the medical literature of recent years will reveal papers about "Airport
Malaria" - trnsmission by mosquitos imported accidentally from the tropics
in planes, and then inoculating nearby residents - rare but definite. Such
papers often have discussion of the climatological factors, and will update
the scientific data of the early literature.

Tertian and quartan malaria were unquestionably major health problems in
certain regions of Britain over several centuries, and a significant cause
of the high mortality in marsh areas - malaria was a killer in the
vulnerable. Its severe economic effects are well-documented.

Which brings to mind two more papers which are right here on my bookshelf -
Kentish papers in the annual publication Archaeologia Cantiana - vol 95
(1979) MacDougall pp. 255-64 (Effects on a community) and vol. 101 (1984)
Harris pp.257-8 (references to malaria in a paper about Sheerness dockyard
- the most notoriously malarious place in the land apparently)

I post it all openly in case this helps others

****************************************************
Nick Hudd  { Dr N P Hudd MA FRCP, Tenterden, Kent. }
< [log in to unmask] >
< http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/nphudd/ >


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Stephen Benham wrote :-

<<Nick Hudd

<<I was interested in your message on the 
<<mailbase.ac.uk/lists/local-history mail list. My experience is 
<<similar, having collected a series of disparate interests over the 
<<years.
<<
<<However, I was particularly interested in your reference to Romney 
<<Marsh and malaria. A friend and I are researching the history of our 
<<local parish (Llangynfelyn, in the north of Ceredigion), which with 
<<the surrounding parish of Llanfihangel Genau'r-glyn contains the 
<<coastal raised mire called Cors Fochno, on the south side of the 
<<river Dyfi, on the west coast of Wales. This bog is said to have 
<<been the furthest north that malaria used to occur on the 
<<west coast of Britain. Stories of the "shakes", as the very mild 
<<local malaria was called, and of Hen Wrach Cors Fochno (the old hag 
<<of Cors Fochno), the personification of the disease that was said to 
<<stalk the bog, were common currency. The disease died out around the 
<<middle of the last century, probably because with the arrival of 
<<cheap house coal from south Wales, when people stopped visiting the 
<<bog to cut peat, and broke the lifecycle of the parasite. It was 
<<(is?) said that the Hen Wrach is only sleeping, and that she will 
<<awake for the day the coal of south Wales runs out.
<<
<<We are starting to put material on-line (www.llangynfelyn.org.uk), 
<<and will be including the enclosure and partial drainage of Cors 
<<Fochno, but have not looked at the matter of the malaria. I would be 
<<very interested in your experience with the Romney Marsh malaria, and 
<<any suggestions on how to demonstrate anything useful about an 
<<endemic non-fatal disease itself dead this last century and a half.
<<
<<     Yours sincerely
<<
<<          Stephen Benham


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