二十世纪二三十年代中国社会对疟疾的认知与政府防治

Chinese Public Knowledge of Malaria and Government's Prevention and Treatment in the 1920s and 30s

疟疾是由寄生于人体内的疟原虫所引发的传染病,该病一直伴随人类生活史。上古以来,国人始终在探询疟疾的发病机理。西学东渐以来,西方医学对于疟疾的阐释传入中国,在中西医关于疟疾成因的交锋之中,西医有关疟原虫致病及其分类的阐释日渐为国人接受。民国时期,建立公共卫生体系以防治传染病渐成国家职责的应有之义,南京国民政府亦有此初衷。二十世纪二三十年代,国民政府针对中国区域性疟疾高发状况有过一定的应对,并针对1931年长江流域的疟疾大流行状况展开调查,初步掌握了疟疾在中国南方的分布状况以及疟疾种类,澄清了民众对于疟疾认知的误区,揭开了云贵地区瘴气病的真相。然而此际医学新旧杂陈,民众亦缺乏基本的卫生健康知识,兼因国家积贫积弱、政府内外交困,全国性的疟疾防控体系未曾建立。至全面抗战爆发,长江流域中国抗战部队仍深受疟疾戕害。

Malaria is an infectious disease caused by plasmodium parasites, which has been long accompanying the human race. Chinese people have been exploring the pathogenesis of malaria since the ancient times. After the introduction of Western medicine into China, the Western interpretation of the pathogenic and classification of malaria parasites was gradually accepted by Chinese public during the conflict between Chinese traditional medicine and the Western counterpart. In the period of the Republic of China, the Nanjing national government intended to establish a public health system to prevent and control infectious diseases. In the 1920s and 30s, the national government took some measures to deal with the high rate of endemic malaria in China, and investigated the epidemic situation of malaria in the Yangtze River basin in 1931. The government identified the distribution mode and the type of malaria in south China, clarified the public＇s misunderstanding of malaria, and discovered the cause of malaria in Yunnan - Guizhou region. However, due to the confusion of medical knowledge, the public＇s lack of common hygienic sense and the weakness of the country, the government failed to establish the national malaria control system. After the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression started, the Chinese army in the Yangtze River basin suffered a lot from malaria.