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Randall M. Packard. The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria. Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease. Uncorrected proof. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007. xvii + 289 pp. Ill. $24.95 (ISBN-10: 0-8018-8712-7; ISBN-13: 978-0-8018-8712-3).
To provide a panoramic perspective on what was called for many decades "the king of diseases" is a challenging task. It is important to remember that throughout history malaria has been considered, and is today, one of the main infectious diseases of the world, affecting especially the rural poor in developing nations, namely the poorest of the poor. Randall Packard has accomplished this task successfully in this one-volume history. His book clearly indicates a command of the theme, which many historians of medicine know is a result of his many years of study.
The book begins with Packard's memories from his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda, where he contracted malaria. His reason for mentioning this personal anecdote is that the young historian-to-be came up with a revolutionary idea on how to improve the living conditions of people suffering from malaria. However, his ideas did not catch the attention of his American boss, who was more interested in specific interventions to control epidemic outbreaks. The anecdote is relevant because it becomes one of the organizing principles of the book. There have been two approaches to malaria: first, there are those who consider it a sociomedical problem that will not be...