Historical Development

          Malaria has infected humans for over 50,000 years, and Plasmodium may have been a human pathogen for the entire history of the species. Close relatives of the human malaria parasites remain common in chimpanzees. Some new evidence suggests that the most virulent strain of human malaria may have originated in gorillas.

Even the stong Roman Empire was greatly affected by Malaria.

          References to the unique periodic fevers of malaria are found throughout recorded history, beginning in 2700 BC in China. Malaria may have contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire, and was so pervasive in Rome that it was known as the "Roman fever". A number of regions in ancient Rome were considered at-risk for the disease because of the favorable conditions present for malaria vectors. This included areas such as: southern Italy, the island of Sardinia, the Pontine Marshes, the lower regions of coastal Etruria and the city of Rome along the Tiber River. The presence of stagnant water in these places were preferred by mosquitoes for breeding grounds. Irrigated gardens, swamp-like grounds, runoff from agriculture, and drainage problems from road construction led to the increase of standing water.

  

It was believed that Malaria was caused by foul air in swamps

     The word malaria comes from 18th century Italian mala meaning "bad" and aria meaning "air". Most likely, the term was first used by Dr. Francisco Torti, Italy, when people thought the disease was caused by foul air in marsh areas. That is why the disease was also formerly called argue or marsh fever due to its association with swamps and marshland. It was not until 1880 that scientists discovered that malaria was a parasitic disease which is transmitted by the anopheles mosquito. The mosquito infects the host with a one-cell parasite called plasmodium. Not long after they found out that Malaria is transmitted from human-to-human through the bite of the female mosquito, which needs blood for her eggs. According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, Malaria is "A disease caused by the presence of the sporozoan Plasmodium in human or other vertebrate erythrocytes, usually transmitted to humans by bite of an infected female mosquito of the genus Anopehles that previously sucked blood from a person with malaria ..." Malaria is also known as Jungle fever, Marsh fever, Paludal fever. 

        Now approcimately 40% of the total global population is at risk of Malaria infection. During the 20th century, the disease was effectively eliminated in the majority of non-tropical countreis. Today Malaria causes over 350 million human acute illnesses, as well as at least one million deaths annually. The anopheles mosquito exists in most tropical and many sub-tropical countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. According to WHO (World Health Organization), the majority of Malaria deaths occur among children in sub-Saharan Africa, killing an African child every 30 seconds. Not only is Malaria associated with poverty, it is also a cause of poverty and an important obstacle to economic development.

Malaria was also a big concern in World War II

        Malaria was the most important health hazard encountered by U.S. troops in the South Pacific during World War II, where about 500,000 men were infected. According to Joseph Patrick Byrne, "Sixty thousand American soldiers died of malaria during the African and South Pacific campaigns."