Malaria...

...is not just something that affects the poor in other countries: it is never far away. This LA Times editorial is a step in the direction of public awareness, but says some things that just aren't so. (Who am I to say? Well, I came down with a bad case in Zimbabwe, got obsesssed with the subject, amassed a small library on various parasites, and even wrote a short account of my adventure for Men's Journal).

The editorial writer makes some sensible connections between the disease and poverty. But then he states: "Unfortunately, there aren't very many [ lessons] to be learned from the United States. American mosquitoes didn't evolve to carry the malaria parasite, and they aren't very efficient at it. In Africa, they are the perfect hosts; the hot African climate also accelerates the progress of the disease. Americans never faced a threat close to the one in Africa".

The last statement is literally true; the rest is biological nonsense. Native malaria was a major impediment to the settling of the Ohio River Valley-- Lewis and Clark encountered it there. It wasn't wiped out in Staten Island until the Thirties! Hell, the disease was named in Rome, and prevalent even in colder Venice-- it is not only a tropical affliction.

There are many native malarias. Most are bird- adapted-- I lost a falcon to one when I boarded him on the Rio Grande. But falciparum, the deadliest malaria, jumped from bird to human, the way Avian flu may be poised to today.

It CAN happen here.

For a comprehensive (and often amazingly witty!) look at the biology and anthropology of malaria and other parasites I highly recommend the books of Robert Desowitz, a man who has fought in the trenches of public health.