Sebastiano Bado, sometimes Latinized as Sebastianus Baldus (also spelled Badi or Baldo; 1643 - 1676), was a

Genoese Genoese, Genovese, or Genoan may refer to: * a person from modern Genoa * a person from the Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria * Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language * Ligurian language, a Romance language of whi ...

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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and became the court doctor to

John de Lugo John de Lugo (also Juan de Lugo y de Quiroga and Xoan de Lugo; 17 October 164420 August 1660), a Spanish Jesuit and Cardinal, was an eminent scholastic theologian of the Baroque period.malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

, 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, 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 ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

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, in 1676.

References

{{authority control Italian physicians 17th-century Swiss physicians