Bitter-sweet solutions for malaria: exploring natural remedies from the past

Abstract

This paper explores "a wonderful cure" for malaria used successfully by Robert Talbor, an apothecary's apprentice in the English marshes, to treat Essex smugglers and European Royalty in the seventeenth century. The basis of this cure is identified as "quinquina" from the bark of the South American Cinchona tree. The story of Robert Talbor and his secret remedy for malaria opens up a set of intriguing questions about the early history of "quinquina", the subsequent development of quinine, the use of higher plants for antimalarial drugs, including the Chinese plant Artemisia annua L., and the value of unlocking the secrets of the past in our search for strategies to control malaria.