This means about 1.5-2.7 million people, mainly children, die each year from malaria. Since the reduction of use of DDT through the 1960s there has been no impact in reducing malaria in tropical Africa. In some parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, one in 10 infant deaths, and one in four deaths of children under four years are attributed to malaria. Malaria's symptoms include sweating, headaches, a very high fever, vomiting, and weakness. While malaria is often called a tropical disease, it occurs everywhere from South Africa to Russia, and used to be endemic in the United States.
Malaria is one of the most serious public health threats the world faces.
It is estimated that malaria kills upwards of million people every year and infects another 300-500 million. Ninety percent of malaria's victims are children under the age of five. A malaria vaccine does not currently exist. The malarial parasites are complex organisms that go through an intricate lifecycle in both mosquitoes and humans. These characteristics make vaccine development particularly difficult.