The Fever Trail

In the last 15 years Malaria has killed 60 times more people than AIDS. There still is no vaccine.

The Fever Trail is a fascinating boat trip through the history of Malaria and those that have sought to cure it. It is a story of courage; of political machinations and personal bravery, of the New World against the Old. From the jungles of Peru to the high-tech labs in the USA, Mark Honigsbaum reveals the characters and events that, up until now, have been little more than footnotes in history.

The Fever Trail starts with the hunt for the Cinchono tree, the tree that yielded the cure for Malaria, quinine. Markham, Ledger and Spruce, the trio of explorers given the task of transporting the tree to the colonies, gave most of their lives so that the world could be free of intermittent fevers.They never though that the disease would mutate.The modern pioneers no longer search out forests, or spend months on dangerous rivers. Instead they battle on in laboratories and facilities desperate to find what has eluded mankind for centuries. A cure.

"[An] entertaining but sobering book...full of vivid detail" Financial Times

"A serious book about a deadly diease" The Spectator

"A stunning history of the hunt for a cure for malaria" Beryl Bainbridge, Books of the Year, Sunday Telegraph