Quinine is a drug obtained from the cinchona bark that is used mainly in the treatment of malaria, an infection caused by the protozoan parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted to humans by the bite of various species of mosquitoes. During the 300 years between its introduction into Western medicine and World War I, quinine was the only effective remedy for malaria. As a specific treatment for this disease, quinine has benefited more people than any other drug used thus far to fight infectious diseases. The treatment of malaria with quinine marked the first successful use of a chemical compound in combating an infectious disease. Quinine was first synthesized in a laboratory in 1944; however, synthesis of the drug on a commercial scale is not economically feasible.
==Special Precautions of Quinine==
* Potentially serious interactions with other drugs