Biodiversity of Malaria in the World

A million deaths every year, 500 million sufferers, 2 billion people at risk: those were the figures concerning malaria in 2000. The distribution and seriousness of the disease vary according to pathogenic agents, vectors and the environment. At the present time, 90% of deaths from the strain of malaria caused by P. falciparum affect tropical Africa, where only 10% of the world''s population lives. The African continent is home to the most efficient vectors and the climate is eminently favourable to transmission of the disease. Serious outbreaks also occur in the wooded regions of South-East Asia, New Guinea and Amazonia. Elsewhere in the tropical and subtropical world, the strain of malaria caused by P. vivax and/or P. malariae is less severe. This book describes 50 years of active struggle against malaria, a succession of periods of euphoria followed by periods of depression that have not shaken researchers'' belief that the scourge of malaria can be eliminated.