Odd Wisconsin: Large doses of quinine were used to treat malaria
Madison author Tom Doherty's book, "The Best Specimen of a Tyrant," gives a vivid glimpse into medical life on the Wisconsin frontier.
When Dr. Abraham Van Norstrand arrived in Jefferson County in the summer of 1847, the entire region was struck down by fevers, chills and nausea. Although just out of training, Van Norstrand immediately recognized a malaria outbreak.
"I soon found my hands full; many new cases every day and none getting well," he recalled.
Fearing for his reputation as well as his patients' lives, the young doctor was dismayed when his textbook's malaria treatments failed.
As his patients wasted away, another physician happened to pass through town. Van Norstrand took him to an old woman in the last stages of the illness.
His colleague prescribed 20 grams of powdered quinine every two hours --
exponentially more than the textbooks ordered. Van Norstrand was sure it would kill her.
The next morning he rode out to her farm, saw her bedclothes hanging from the line, and went in to give condolences to her family.
Instead, he found her sitting upright in a chair, wide awake, and grateful for his help.
"I laid my books aside, so far as malarial diseases, and commenced the free use of quinine," he wrote. "In three months my medical reputation was as good as at any time during the 25 years that I subsequently actively followed my profession."
Large doses of quinine remained the best treatment for malaria for another century.
-- Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org
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