{"id":5343,"date":"2025-08-31T18:12:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T18:12:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/?p=5343"},"modified":"2025-09-01T18:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:16:49","slug":"malaria-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmedblogs.us\/nicholascomninellis\/2025\/08\/31\/malaria-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaria in America?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cI have malaria!\u201d shouted a young mother. \u201cI as well,\u201d declared a shivering elderly man. \u201cMy children, they all have malaria,\u201d confirmed a distraught father, \u201cand one died this morning!\u201d<\/p>\n

In response to my question, \u201cWho has malaria?\u201d, over 100 hands raised among the crowd of patients waiting to see me. Adding to their urgency was the increasing ricochets of distant gun fire, which at that time characterized our lives amid the Angola Civil War.<\/p>\n

I was prepared, so I thought. Before moving to Angola, a nation in southern Africa, I diligently studied malaria and other tropical diseases at the US Army Walter Reed School of Tropical Medicine. But the sheer number of sick Angolans was far beyond my capacity to treat.<\/p>\n

Malaria once infected Americans. This map from 1870 shows the extent of malaria deaths, particularly lethal in the warm humid climate of the south. Military commanders during both World Wars were frequently changed battle strategies because of epidemic malaria among their soldiers. Agriculture leaders often watched their crops wither because farmworkers were too feverish to harvest.<\/p>\n

In 1947, in fact, 15,000 cases were still reported in the U.S. But by 1951, malaria was declared eliminated from the U.S. Dramatic progress! How was this possible? Major milestones include:<\/p>\n