Malaria in the Fens

Fen Ague or Marsh fever, was an endemic disease once common in the East Anglican Fens. The English word Ague derives from Old French “ague” meaning “sever fever”.

The word was used in Geoffry Chaucer’s “Nun’s priest tales” in the 14th c and William Shakespeare refers to it in many of his plays.

Samuel Pepys, the diarist, suffered from Ague and Oliver Cromwell died of tertian ague in 1658.
It was thought the fever came from inhaling miasma given off during warm, hot weather.
Bargemen were susceptible to this disease as were those who lived and worked near the fen watercourses.

Major drainage of the Fens during the 17th c coupled with better personal hygiene alongside Britain entering a cooler period “the mini ice age” led to the decreased in Fen Ague. The disease was not unique to the Fens many marshlands in England also were know for this fever especially in Essex and along the Thames valley.

It was not until the 19th c that the word malaria (malus aria, Latin for bad air) began to replaced the word Ague and the disease died out.

It was, at this time realised that malaria was due to a protozoan parasite transmitted by the mosquito and not miasma.

The fen people had no cure for this disease, only sedatives such as opium and various potions made for indigenous plants, herbs and bark from ash trees to relieve the fever. Alcohol and Opium were commonly used to suppress the rigors of the first stages of ague.

The fens became notorious for “ Opium eaters” and laudanum given to children during teething which may have initiated this habit in their later lives. One Fenland physician wrote that “ a patch of white poppies was usually found in most Fen gardens”.

In the 17th c Robert Brady used cinchona powder, whose principle ingredient was quinine to treat Ague, which still used today. This was made from the bark of a several trees growing in Peru and Bolivia both Catholic countries. In Great Britain it became known as “Jesuit’s Powder” and some physicians of the Protestant orthodox religion were prejudice to it’s use in treating Ague.

By the mid 20th c the disease was found to be transmitted by the mosquito.

The strains of mosquitoes in the Fens at that time have become extinct. If malaria carrying mosquitoes did enter the Fens (which is unlikely) the disease could only be passed to humans from the insects carrying infect blood from other humans with the disease. There would have to be many humans infected for this to happen. There are more than 30 species of mosquitoes in Britain at this time and the vast majority do not bite humans.