Malaria is the world's oldest recorded disease, it is referred to in old Chinese and Indian writings. It was one of the causes of the downfall of both the Greek and Roman empire.
![nvbvvb.jpg]
(
)
Even in the past, people
recognized that there must be some connections between malaria and swamps, and some believed that insects living near swamps might be the carrier of the disease. The Romans drained the swamps and reduced the mosquito population. This was the best method used for the next fifteen centuries. 
The Shrinking malaria map
) Not until 1632 did the Europeans find a successful treatment for the disease. The Spanish discoverers of the New World learned from the Indians of Peru that the bark of one of the trees growing there often often ended a patient's attack of malaria. In the nineteenth century, French scientists found that quinine was the substance in the bark that cured malaria. The Dutch planted quinine trees in the East Indies and, in time, established an almost complete control of the medicine made from it. When the East Indies supply was cut off during the two world wars, two other drugs were developed which proved even more successful than quinine in curing attacks.
