the epidemic that weakened the Roman empire

 Did Malaria weaken the soldiers and the elites in Italy? 

headsup from Librivox has an old audiobook that quotes Roman sources about the problem: it was not a summer disease, but hit when the rains fell in the late summer and early fall. Falciparum malaria kills even adults, but the less virulent strains cause chronic tireness and require you to take time off when the fever hits (every three to four days, hence the term quartan fever).

A problem of empire...brought in by ships and infected passengers coming from malaria areas, and spread via local mosquitoes that breed in standing water.  that may have been made worse by collecting rain water in containers where mosquitoes could breed.

 More here.

it just didn't weaken adults, but caused miscarriages and killed children.

and is still a problem. 

WHO page states:

In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide. 

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. It is preventable and curable. 

The estimated number of malaria deaths stood at 627 000 in 2020. 

The WHO African Region carries a disproportionately high share of the global malaria burden. In 2020, the region was home to 95% of malaria cases and 96% of malaria deaths. Children under 5 accounted for about 80% of all malaria deaths in the Region.

 the treatment is to kill the mosquitoes: Ah, but when they stopped using DDT (safe for humans but killed some birds) the death rate soared.

of course, it can be argued that the moquitoes became resistant to DDT, but the reason for stopping it was politics, not this problem.

Basic public health also helps: The phrase "drain the swamp" is about draining swampy areas that were the source of the disease. And critics who ridiculed Victorians etc. for keeping their windows closed at night as if this was a delusion forget that this also stopped the mosquitoes from coming into the house.

what has stopped malaria in most developed countries is mosquito control: 

https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2021/07/Previous-prevalence-of-malaria-world-map-1.png

The Gates foundation is working on Malaria prevention on many levels: mosquito nets, local surveillence to eliminate outbreaks, injectable medicine for long term prevention, educating people on how to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

by the way, much of the expertise to stop mosquitoes also works with the (different) mosquito that spreads Dengue fever.

And this report is about how China has eliminated malaria.

China is investing in Africa seeking food and mineral resources. African diseases can infect their workers there, and these workers can even bring home the disease on visits (something that happened when Angola had a yellow fever outbreak).

So can China's expertise in fighting malaria help African countries eliminate the disease? This article is about the Gates foundation working with China to do just that.

more information on malaria here.

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