From:
slider@atashram.com
one other thought/idea being... if malarial medications have any effect
at all (and we're not sure they do) then why not quinine too?
(slider bangs on the counter...) hey barkeep! 6 bottles of tonic water
over here, please! :)
### - added note re quinine:
https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2875-10-144
The discovery of quinine is considered the most serendipitous medical
discovery of the 17th century [1] and malaria treatment with quinine
marked the first successful use of a chemical compound to treat an
infectious disease[2]. Quinine, as a component of the bark of the cinchona (quina-quina) tree, was used to treat malaria from as early as the 1600s,
when it was referred to as the "Jesuits' bark," "cardinal's bark," or
"sacred bark." These names stem from its use in 1630 by Jesuit
missionaries in South America, though a legend suggests earlier use by the native population[2].
According to this legend, an Indian with a high fever was lost in an
Andean jungle. Thirsty, he drank from a pool of stagnant water and found
that it tasted bitter. Realizing that the water had been contaminated by
the surrounding quina-quina trees he thought he was poisoned.
Surprisingly, his fever soon abated, and he shared this accidental
discovery with fellow villagers, who thereafter used extracts from the quina-quina bark to treat fever [3]. The legend of quinine's discovery
accepted in Europe differs though, and involves the Spanish Countess of Chinchon who, while in Peru, contracted a fever that was cured by the bark
of a tree. Returning to Spain with the bark, she introduced quinine to
Europe in 1638 and, in 1742, botanist Carl Linnaeus called the tree
"Cinchona" in her honour [4].
Before 1820, the bark of the cinchona tree was first dried, ground to a
fine powder, and then mixed into a liquid (commonly wine) before being
drunk. In 1820, quinine was extracted from the bark, isolated and named by Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou. Purified quinine then
replaced the bark as the standard treatment for malaria [5]. Quinine and
other cinchona alkaloids including quinidine, cinchonine and cinchonidine
are all effective against malaria. The efficacies of these four alkaloids
were evaluated in one of the earliest clinical trials, conducted from 1866
to 1868 in 3600 patients using prepared sulfates of the alkaloids.
With the main outcome measure of "cessation of febrile paroxysms", all
four alkaloids were found to be comparable, with cure rates of >98%[6]. However, after 1890 quinine became the predominantly used alkaloid, mainly
due to a change in supply from South American to Javan cinchona bark,
which contained a higher proportion of quinine [7]. Quinine remained the mainstay of malaria treatment until the 1920s, when more effective
synthetic anti-malarials became available. The most important of these
drugs was chloroquine, which was extensively used, especially beginning in
the 1940s [6]. With heavy use, chloroquine resistance developed slowly. Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine was seen in parts of Southeast Asia and South America by the late 1950s, and was widespread in almost all areas with falciparum malaria by the 1980s.
With increasing resistance to chloroquine, quinine again played a key
role, particularly in the treatment of severe malaria [6]. To-date quinine continues to play a significant role in the management of malaria. This
review, discusses the historical role of quinine, considers its current
usage, and provides insight into the appropriate future use of quinine for
the treatment of malaria. Information was obtained by searching published literature in the National Library of Medicine via Pub Med and MEDLINE
search engines for research articles, reviews, books, and other reports. Identification of published reports was done using key word searches such
as quinine and malaria treatment, quinine and drug resistance, quinine in pregnancy, quinine and antibiotic combinations, and quinine and HIV/TB
infected populations.
Quinine properties
Quinine is a cinchona alkaloid that belongs to the aryl amino alcohol
group of drugs. It is an extremely basic compound and is, therefore,
always presented as a salt[6]. Various preparations exist, including the hydrochloride, dihydrochloride, sulphate, bisulphate, and gluconate salts;
of these the dihydrochloride is the most widely used. Quinine has rapid schizonticidal action against intra-erythrocytic malaria parasites. It is
also gametocytocidal for Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium malariae, but not
for Plasmodium falciparum. Quinine also has analgesic, but not antipyretic properties. The anti-malarial mechanism of action of quinine is unknown.
### - smile, you'd prolly need about 20 small bottles of tonic water to
equate with just a single dose of prescription quinine heh, but the bark
it's derived from (Red Cinchona Bark/Quina Quina) is actually freely
available online from ebay and prolly elsewhere too...
e.g...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Red-Cinchona-Bark-Quina-Quinine-75g-200g-Cinchona-Pubescens-Calisaya/143558570769?hash=item216cc1f311:m:mk52paWkZRFSjozki8Veejw
that's in the uk so maybe in the US too i dunno...
and might be just as good as 'chloroquine' (and not expensive either!) :)
i.e., with 'quine' on the end ya can see where they gots that name from
then innit...
barkeep! cancel that tonic water and just bring me some wine to soak my
barks in!
woof-woof! haha :)))
(am barkin' here boss! lol)
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* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)