The Discovery of Transmission Mechanisms and the Fight against Malaria in Italy

Abstract

The Italian experience on the eradication of malaria is particularly significant, owing to the high endemicity of malaria in a large part of the territory of the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, the scientific level of the Italian research centres and medical structures, the efficacy of the legislative and institutional developments, the part played by the Italian School of Malariology (Bastianelli, Bignami, Celli, Fermi, Golgi, Grassi, Marchiafava, Missiroli, Raffaele) in the discovery of the transmission mechanisms and in the clarification of the ecology and epidemiology of malaria. A global approach, which combines the different antimalarial measures with the bettering of the sanitary structure and a constant activity of a high level of scientific and medical research is the key to understand the reason of the success of the antimalarial campaigns in Italy.