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Malaria is caused by a parasite, not a virus. It has developed resistance to antimalarials very quickly, however.
by dillydogg 3y ago
Malaria is caused by a parasite, not a virus. It has developed resistance to antimalarials very quickly, however.
- hotnfresh 3y agoBy two major varieties of a parasite, one of which notably used to ravage England up to nearly the Scottish border, and the US East Coast up to the lower reaches of New England. Tons and tons of malaria deaths at surprisingly-high latitudes, not all that long ago.
- SoftTalker 3y agoIt was attacked mainly by work eliminating mosquitos, correct? A lot of that was done with DDT which unfortunately is not without its problems.
- hotnfresh 3y agoYeah, mostly mosquito eradication, I think. [edit] My mom remembers how all the kids would run and ride bikes behind the city pesticide spray trucks when they came around a few times each Summer, trailing thick clouds of… DDT.
- sho_hn 3y ago"1491" is already a Hacker News favorite (rightfully so), but Charles Mann's "1493" is also a superb book, which contains a long section covering the impact of malaria on Europe and the Americas.
- hotnfresh 3y agoI might have liked 1493 even more than 1491, personally.
- dimitrios1 3y agoIn the early days of the Holy (Western) Roman Empire, the various Germanic Emperors would only come down into Rome during the colder months when it was safe from malaria, and head out north to the cold when it got warm because Rome was a hotbed for malaria.