Sebastiano Bado, sometimes Latinized as Sebastianus Baldus (also spelled Badi or Baldo; 1643 - 1676), was a Genoese physician notable for his medicinal usage of

cinchona bark Jesuit's bark, also known as cinchona bark, Peruvian bark or China bark, is a former remedy for malaria, as the bark contains quinine used to treat the disease. The bark of several species of the genus ''Cinchona'', family Rubiaceae indigenous ...

in the 17th century. Bado studied medicine in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

and became the court doctor to

John de Lugo John de Lugo (also Juan de Lugo y de Quiroga and Xoan de Lugo) (1583–1660), a Spanish Jesuit and Cardinal, was an eminent theologian of the Baroque.malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, notably in his 1663 publication ''Anastasis corticis Peruviae, seu Chinae Chinae defensio, Sebastiani Badi Genuensis ..Contra Ventilationes Ioannis Iacobi Chifletii, gemitusque Vopisci Fortunati Plempii''. The traditional story connecting cinchona with malaria treatment was first recorded in this publication. Bado tells of the wife of

Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera, 4th Count of Chinchón Luis Jerónimo Fernández de Cabrera Bobadilla Cerda y Mendoza, 4th Count of Chinchón, also known as Luis Xerónimo Fernandes de Cabrera Bobadilla y Mendoza, (1589 in Madrid – October 28, 1647 in Madrid) was a Spanish nobleman, Comendador ...

and

Viceroy of Peru The viceroys of Peru ruled the Viceroyalty of Peru from 1544 to 1824 in the name of the monarch of Spain. The territories under ''de jure'' rule by the viceroys included in the 16th and 17th century almost all of South America except eastern Brazi ...

, who fell ill in Lima with a tertian fever. A Spanish governor advised a traditional remedy using cinchona bark, which resulted in a miraculous and rapid cure. The Countess then supposedly ordered a large quantity of the bark and took it back to Europe. Bado's story has been generally rejected as little more than a legend. However, it is because of this story that

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

chose the genus name ''

Cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...

''. Bado distributed cinchona bark powder at local hospitals under the direction of de Lugo. By the end of his career, Bado had become head of two city hospitals in Genoa. He was last mentioned as being alive, albeit suffering from

podagra Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

, in 1676.

References

{{authority control Italian physicians 17th-century physicians