Second World War poster "Keep out<unk>  mosquitoes repair your torn screens". U.S. Public Health Service, 1941–45 The<unk>  stretches from its prehistoric origin as a zoonotic disease in the primates of Africa through to the 21st century. A widespread and potentially lethal human infectious disease, at its peak<unk>  infested every continent, except Antarctica. Its prevention and treatment have been targeted in science and medicine for hundreds of years. Since the discovery of the Plasmodium parasites which cause it, research attention has focused on their biology and as well as that of the mosquitoes which transmit the parasites. References to its unique, periodic fevers are found throughout recorded history beginning in the first millennium BC in Greece and China. For thousands of years, traditional herbal remedies have been used to treat<unk> . The first effective treatment for<unk>  came from the bark of the cinchona tree, which contains quinine. After the link to mosquitos and their parasites was identified in the early twentieth century, mosquito control measures such as widespread use of the insecticide DDT, swamp drainage, covering or oiling the surface of open water sources, indoor residual spraying and use of insecticide treated nets was initiated. Prophylactic quinine was prescribed in<unk>  endemic areas, and new therapeutic drugs, including chloroquine and artemisinins, were used to resist the scourge. Today, artemisinin is present in every remedy applied in treatment of<unk> . After introducing artemisinin as a cure administered together with other remedies,<unk>  mortality in Africa decreased by half, though it later partially rebounded.<unk>  researchers have won multiple Nobel Prizes for their achievements, although the disease continues to afflict some 200 million patients each year, killing more than 600,000.<unk>  was the most important health hazard encountered by U.S. troops in the South Pacific during World War II, where about 500,000 men were infected. According to Joseph Patrick Byrne, "Sixty thousand American soldiers died of<unk>  during the African and South Pacific campaigns." At the close of the 20th century,<unk>  remained endemic in more than 100 countries throughout the tropical and subtropical zones, including large areas of Central and South America, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Africa, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Resistance of Plasmodium to anti-malaria drugs, as well as resistance of mosquitos to insecticides and the discovery of zoonotic species of the parasite have complicated control measures.
History of malaria
History of smallpox
History of chemical warfare
History of plague
History of HIV/AIDS
History of syphilis
History of leprosy
History of polio