|
Pharmacology => Drug => Quinine
Quinine
Quinine, drug that reduces fever in the treatment of malaria. Although quinine kills certain forms of the parasite that causes malaria, it cannot kill the parasite in all stages of its life cycle. Quinine, therefore, is not a true cure for malaria, but is useful in suppressing and controlling the recurring attacks of fever that characterize the disease. In many areas, quinine has been largely replaced by synthetic antimalarial drugs that produce fewer side effects and are more effective. However, quinine is still used in areas of the world where the synthetic drugs are not available, are not effective against particular strains of malaria, or are too expensive. Quinine is also used as a muscle relaxant to treat nighttime leg cramps.
Quinine is found in the root, bark, and branches of cinchonas and other trees native to the Andes mountains in South America. As early as 1633, Calancha, an Augustinian monk living in Peru, described how the Indians ground cinchona bark into a fine powder that was used to treat fever. By 1640, use of the so-called fever bark had spread to Europe. During the next two centuries, cinchona trees were so indiscriminately stripped of bark that they began to die out, and by the middle of the 19th century the bark commanded excessively high prices. To combat the rising price, cinchona trees were introduced to other parts of the world. The trees are now cultivated in Java, India, and Sri Lanka.
In 1820, a new method was developed to isolate quinine and cinchonine, another drug from the cinchona tree, from cinchona bark. These drugs were then used to combat malaria instead of the bark itself. In the 1930s the first synthetic antimalarial drugs were developed. However, quinine remained in wider use than its synthetic counterparts until World War II (1939-1945), when the supply of quinine from countries in the South Pacific was cut off by Japanese military conquest. In response, several new antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and primaquine were developed and are still used today.
Back
|
