History of malaria and brain which are the most constant post-mortem indications of chronic malaria infection. He related the prevalence of malaria in swampy areas to the presence of flies and recommended swamp drainage to prevent it. In the nineteenth century, the first drugs were developed to treat malaria and parasites were first identified as its source. French chemist Pierre Joseph Pelletier and French pharmacist Joseph Bienaimé Caventou separated in 1820 the alkaloids cinchonine and quinine from powdered fever tree bark, allowing for the creation of standardized doses of the active ingredients. Prior to 1820, the bark was simply dried, ground to a
History of malaria spleen in Pedanius Dioscorides's "De Materia Medica" have been suggested to have been a response to chronic malaria in the Roman empire. Some so-called "vampire burials" in late antiquity may have been performed in response to malaria epidemics. For example, some children who died of malaria were buried in the necropolis at Lugnano in Teverina using rituals meant to prevent them from returning from the dead. Modern scholars hypothesize that communities feared that the dead would return and spread disease. In 835, the celebration of Hallowmas (All Saints Day) was moved from May to November at the behest of Pope