The Study Of Italian Malaria During The Roman Empire

Malaria has been an epidemic that has plagued the ancient Romans since the city-state was established.After the malaria parasite spread from Africa along the trade route,it benefited from natural conditions and human behavior.The climate in ancient Rome was warm and humid,which was an excellent condition for the development of Plasmodium.During the republic,the population surge brought survival pressure,and the Romans’ activities such as clearing roads,draining lakes,clearing forests,and long-distance trade increased the chance of exposure to Anopheles.In the early days of the Roman Empire,the shadow of malaria shrouded the entire Roman country.Campania,Pontin,Tuscany,Sardinia and other places have gradually become areas with high incidence of malaria,and the ancient Romans’ understanding of malaria has gradually deepened.Repeated fever caused people to think that malaria was a sin of the gods and formed a common superstition in society,some Roman elites already had preliminary rational thinking of malaria.Ancient Roman doctors Celsus and Galen recorded the clinical symptoms of malaria and discussed the cause.To protect the health of small farmers,agronomists provided effective advice on the choice of arable land and home addresses.Historians recorded a famous person who suffered from the disease.The orator Cicero consciously recorded the symptoms of malaria according to his friend Atticus and his wife.In the Roman Empire,Malaria,tuberculosis and typhoid fever were called the "three major killers",which were an important cause of death for the ancient Romans.In contrast,malaria has three distinguishing features in terms of infectivity.Firstly,malaria is a disease prevalent in summer and autumn,which is one of the reasons for the peak of population death in ancient Rome in July-August.Secondly,there are various malaria strains,and even if you are immune to one of them,for the frequent population movements during the imperial period,immigrants will not only infect the strains they moved into,but also bring new strains.Thirdly,malaria has a strong ability to weaken the immune system.For infants and young children,infection with malaria means death;for middle-aged and elderly people,malaria is likely to weaken the human body in conjunction with other diseases and endanger life;for pregnant women,in spite of the ancient times when food was in short supply and malnutrition was common,infection with malaria meant that Stillbirth,dystocia.Therefore,malaria has shaped the population structure to a certain extent,increased the mortality rate,and then led to economic recession and urban decline in certain regions in different periods and regions,changed the outcome of the war,and profoundly affected the alternation of power.