Artifact of the Month: Quinine Prescription Box and Medicine Labels
1977.33.4 – Gift of Nancy Martin; 1973.5.1.46, 48, & 64 – Gifts of Robert and Winnie Woods
Julia Cronin, Curator of Collections and Exhibits
Pharmacy labels for quinine.
Malaria? In Redding? You bet! Step back a hundred years to the “good old days” and imagine a warm June day after a nice, wet spring. It’s a recipe for mosquitoes. Malaria was a common, and deadly, ailment – along with a host of other preventable and treatable diseases that we seldom worry about today.
Quinine was once the only treatment for malaria, a disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum, P. malariae, P. ovale, or P. vivax parasites that get into the red blood cells through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito. It is the first known scientifically derived chemical compound used to treat an infectious disease. It was initially isolated from the bark of the Peruvian cinchona tree in 1820 and Adolph Strecker determined quinine’s molecular structure in 1854. However, cinchona bark had been used to treat malaria since at least 1632 when Jesuit missionaries encountered it in South America. One of the drug’s early nicknames was Jesuit Bark. These Spaniards most likely learned about its use from the Indigenous population.
Today, travelers are warned about contracting malaria in foreign countries, but 100 years ago it was not so foreign here at home. Malaria made its way into California via fur trappers in the 1830s. Local Anopheles mosquitos (An. freeborni, An. hermsi, and An. punctipennis) bit the infected trappers. They sucked up the parasites in their blood and spread malaria to their next victims. Vivax malaria became endemic in California and contributed to the loss of many Indigenous people who had no natural immunity or access to treatment, as well as affecting the colonizing population.
Natural and human-made water features in and around Redding were a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. In the early 1900s, even people in Downtown Redding complained about surface water and sewage disposal issues. A few years later, the leaky Anderson-Cottonwood District canal created a spike in malaria cases after its construction. Newspapers reported cases and carried advertisements for both legitimate and patent medicines. Pharmacists in Redding and throughout California stocked quinine to treat the potentially deadly disease. You can thank malaria for the vector control districts mandated in the early 20th century that continue to protect us from many insect-borne diseases.
Quinine is also used to flavor tonic water and bitter lemon drink mixers. While it is still available for limited medical uses, the drug is no longer recommended for malaria, as there are more effective treatments with fewer side effects. Quinine was also once prescribed for leg cramps but was banned for this use in 1994. Because of the narrow difference between therapeutic and toxic effects, it is a common cause of drug-induced disorders. Even the small amount added to beverages can adversely affect very sensitive people.
