The Discovery Of The Qinghaosu As A Medicinal Remedy For Malaria Essay

Medicine within the Chinese culture is often being used to cure sickness and infection and to raise the forte of the frail and elder people (Purnell, 2013).

In personal health, there is a big lifetime decision to be made. Presented with two basic options, pharmaceutical medicines and herbal medicines, the choice must be made when the situation of illness arrives, which form of medication will be taken? First, the differences between the two types of medicines must be studies and understood by the user. According to the U.S Food and Drug Administration, a drug is defined as, “A substance (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the body” (Center…). With this in mind, both herbs and scientifically produced medications are to be considered ‘drugs’.

Wang Qing-ren (1763-1831) was a famous physician of traditional Chinese medicine during the Qing Dynasty. He wrote the Yi Lin Gai Cuo (Correcting the Errors in the Forest of 
 Medicine), his only published work, which first appeared in print in 1830 just a year before he died. Since then, it has been re-published numerous times in China, Japan and Korea, and is 
 considered “one of the most reprinted books in all of Chinese medicine” (Minehan, 2007). The book was found to be controversial because it challenged many long-held beliefs in 
 Traditional

For many years, Africa had used herbs to cure various ailments such as AIDS. Because of the lack of treatments available, doctors have been prescribing certain herbs, such as hypoxis. (Mills) Although it doesn’t provide a cure, it does help with the lack of immune system due to the disease. Although there haven’t been any official clinical trials on the drug, there appears to have negligible side effects compared to other medicines typically proscribed for this disease. Another plant that is often prescribed is Sutherlandia. Although it treats AIDS, it is prescribed for many other diseases such as depression. Unlike hypoxis, it has gone through clinical trials, although there are still relatively few (Mills).

According to the book, the doctor and his crew of medical professionals learned information about malaria at a lake called Zancudo Cocha, which means “Lake of the Malaria Mosquito”. The word “Malaria” actually can be traced back to Italian roots named mal aria, or bad air. It is caused by the anopheles mosquito, which often had a needle that is infested by parasites. When the anopheles mosquito hits a blood vessel and began extracting blood from the target, the parasites traveled through the bloodstream, which is a part of the cardiovascular system, and found a home at the liver. They would then multiplied and return to the bloodstream to destroy red blood cells, causing fever and chills. Even though there is no effective protection against bug bites, the most effective treatment for most forms of malaria would a synthetic pill called chloroquine.

Malaria is a disease that affects nearly 600 million people and causes more than a million deaths a year, the most coming from children under five. This disease is regularly found in more than 100 countries around the world and affects 40% of the world’s population. It is most commonly transmitted by an infected Anopheles mosquito. The most deadly form of malaria is known as Plasmodium falciparum because almost all deaths from malaria are caused by this specific one. Some of the symptoms that are affiliated with this strand of malaria are the destruction of red blood cells along with complications with the kidneys, lungs, and brain. In more serious cases, it can cause permanent neurological effects and even death. As the Nobel Assembly said at the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, “Diseases caused by parasites have plagued humankind for a millennium and constitute a major global health problem. In particular, parasitic diseases affect the world’s poorest populations and represent a huge barrier to improving human health and wellbeing”. Youyou Tu, one of the winners of the prize, discovered Artemisinin, “a drug that has significantly reduced the mortality rates for patients suffering from malaria by killing the malaria parasites an early stage of their development.”

So he made a formula for the what is now called “Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic.” It was used as an antimalarial

Galen’s medical research was only directed and focused towards animal anatomy, with his observations on animal bodies. Furthermore, his research results in irrelevance and ineffectiveness for the human body. The Renaissance period was an important historical event, as within this time, many new and exciting discoveries were made. Islamic physicians shared their understanding of anatomy and their herbal remedies in which other physicians added to, which resulted in better, more effective cures. Asia brought cures too, such as Quinine, which is used as a preparation in the treatment of Malaria and it comes from the bark of Quina Trees. Another example of anatomical research from Asia is Laudanum, which is based on opium. Laudanum, was used a painkiller in which the use of, spread quickly. Paracelsus, a Swiss-German physician discovered a cure for the deadly disease Syphilis. His cure involved taking measured doses of mercury compounds internally. Another key person in the medical developments of the Renaissance period was William Harvey, an English physician. He was the first person to understand the whole system of blood circulation in the human

Eventually by the 19th century, European physicians, an Irish physician Dr. William B. O’Shaughnessy an Irish physician who spent time in India during British colonization, started documenting observations after using the plant for medicinal purposes. As Zuardi discusses, O’Shaughnessy continued to study and use the plant for conditions from rheumatism, convulsions and for muscular spasms of tetanus

The first guide for herbal medicines in China, Shen-Nong-Ben-Cao-Jing, was written after the fall of the Han dynasty, and incorporated around 365 different herbal preparations including plants, insect and animal parts, and minerals for medicines and therapeutic effects. The Chinese kept track of many aspects of the plants; whether the plants were poisonous or beneficial to health, the effects the herbs had on the body, where the plants naturally grew, and at what time could the herbs be harvested. The various indigenous species in China, such as different plants and animals thriving in different areas, led to different groups around the area to develop custom lifestyles, customs, cultures, and resistances to diseases. Many of these herbs were exported from China and put into the world market, with some remedies that were made from these materials having neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anticancer properties. Herbs were also used greatly in India, dating back to around 6,000 to 4,000 BCE during the Buddhist period, due to how the belief there that anything could be made into a drug was deeply rooted in their culture. The Ayurvedic literature in the area, such as the Sushruta Samhita, describes not only the use of herbal remedies but also documents surgeries and therapeutic actions that were performed at the time. Ancient Indians used various parts of the plant,

In ancient times, illnesses were treated with plants from the earth. But as modern functional medicine became more developed and widespread, naturalistic remedies were considered useless. So it was fairly easy for the pharmaceutical industry to step in and start

Pharmacogonsy is the combination of the analysis and application of medicinal drugs which have been acquired from natural sources such as plants and animals. Discovery of the Cinchona bark was said to have been made by Spanish monks while they were in Peru. The use of the bark was made known to them by observing the indigenous Indians and by self-discovery. The bark was later made known to the Europeans by Jesuits. It was administered as a hot bitter drink for its medicinal purposes. Cinchona Succiruba was said to have acquired its appellation from the countess of a Spanish town called Cinchon who was cured of malaria by the use of the cinchona succiruba bark from the 17th century. There are other species of Cinchona but C. Succiruba has the most alkaloid content in comparison to the others as its bark contains 6 -16 % alkaloid content of which consists of quinidine and quinine which are the two main pharmacologically active

To understand Chinese medicines you have know how it all started. During the Shang Dynasty medicine was not very effective and was based solely on the superstations of priests. The practices were useless, real medicine did not emerge until the Zhou dynasty came into power. During the time of the Shang Dynasty there was a high regard for Taoist ways of healing. They would preform rituals to purge the body of harmful spirits. Early magicians would use rare elements and claim that they came from the heavens. (Woods & Berk)

In the early 1600s, a new cure-all arrived in Europe introduced by the Jesuits. Made from Peruvian bark it could relieve the symptoms of malaria. However it fell into obscurity as the physicians preferred bloodletting and other ‘cures’. In the mid-1800s, France was the first to

Modern medicine and healthcare system have categorized herbal medicine as a natural remedy used when people can’t afford to purchase conventional drugs. They are perceived inferior because they cost less but the health benefits are endless. However, there have been various situations and instances that prove that herbal medicine is good for health.