Malaria is one of the oldest known infections. It is also the world's most deadly tropical parasitic disease. It kills more people than any other communicable disease except tuberculosis. The disease was first described in ancient Sanskrit and Chinese documents. Hippocrates also described the disease in his writings. It is believed that the army of Alexander the Great was wiped out by the disease during its march across India.

Malaria is thought to have been introduced into the United States by European colonists and African slaves in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is now endemic in ninety-two countries worldwide. With approximately 41 percent of the world's population at risk, the disease poses a serious health threat globally. As many as two million people die annually; half of the deaths occur in children under five years of age. According to the World Health Organization, this amounts to one child...