16 DDT — Killer of Killers 



saps the strength of its victims and makes them miserable for 

 a long, long time. Yet, even though malaria does not kill 

 most of its victims, so many people throughout the world 

 contract this lingering disease each year that the small per- 

 centage who die from it comprise a by-no-means insignificant 

 total. Reliable figures are impossible to obtain, but avail- 

 able evidence indicates that at least 3,000,000 of the world's 

 inhabitants die from malaria each year, and probably a hun- 

 dred times that number are made ill. How many malaria 

 viaims die not from the disease itself but from other infec- 

 tions which gain a foothold in their malaria-weakened bodies 

 is anybody's guess, but the total must be at least as great as 

 the number killed directly by the disease. 



That malaria has played an important part in the his- 

 tory of the world is beyond question. After the campaign of 

 the Greeks against the Egyptians in 456 B.C., the soldiers of 

 Hannibal brought back malaria, and ever since, the Mediter- 

 ranean basin has been a favorite breeding ground for germ- 

 carrying mosquitoes, waiting to pass on the disease to those 

 who dare enter their domain. The mosquitoes lost no time 

 in spreading malaria among the Greeks in those long-passed 

 days. Before long, the population was so weakened by 

 germs in their blood cells that Greek civilization was on the 

 down grade, and the Greeks were in no condition to with- 

 stand the arms of the Roman legions. 



The movement of armies has always been a big factor 

 in the spread of malaria, as the Crusaders, the troops of Napo- 

 leon, and the British Tommies all found out. In our own 

 Civil War, over 50 percent of the white troops and over 

 80 percent of the negro troops fell victims to malaria each 

 year; and our Spanish-American soldiers found malaria a 

 more formidable enemy than the Spaniards. Incidentally, 



