Harveian Oration

“To search and Studdy out the secrett of Tropical Diseases by way of Experiment”

Malaria

In 16th and 17th century England, Plasmodium vivax and possibly P malariae infections (“agues”) were common in estuarine and marshy areas. Harvey experienced malaria both as patient and pathologist. Discussing the anatomical position of the liver and spleen in his Prelectiones anatomiae universalis, he mentioned that his own spleen had been enlarged during a quartan ague¹ and in De motu cordis et sanguinis, he described the effects of tertian fever on the heart and lungs: “I speak with

First-aid treatment for snake bite

In Britain, the only species of venomous snake, the adder (Vipera berus), causes barely 100 hospital admissions annually, and has killed only 14 people since 1876—the last in 1976. But snake bites are a common medical emergency in many parts of the tropical world. The annual global mortality from snake bite is said to range from 50 000 to 100 000, but these largely hospital-based estimates are unreliable since most victims seek traditional treatment and may die at home unrecorded.

Mad dog bite and rabies

Rabies encephalomyelitis is one of the most agonising and certain deaths imaginable,⁵⁹ and fear of rabies affects the millions of people bitten by potentially rabid animals each year. Some idea of the burden of human suffering from rabies is provided by probable underestimates of 60 000 deaths from dog-mediated rabies and the use of 50 million doses of vaccine for post-exposure prophylaxis in 1997.³

In support of his concept of the circulation of the blood, Harvey wrote: “I have known fever or

Conclusion

This review has focused on research into selected aspects of three apparently very different diseases of tropical countries. However, the diseases that follow bites by mosquitoes, snakes, and mad dogs have a crucial zoological component that determines the pathogenesis and epidemiology of infection or envenoming. Understanding these aspects is essential for the development and testing of methods for prevention and treatment. All three conditions attracted William Harvey's attention and