1. Drinking beer could increase your chances of infection

Mosquitoes love the smell of beer, according to scientists at the University of Emory. Knocking back a can or two causes your body to produce an odour that is irresistible to the malaria-carrying insects, the 2010 study found. So if you are travelling in a malaria-infected area, steer clear of the beer.



Thierry Lefevre, a researcher at the University of Emory, wrote in his report:
QuoteWater consumption had no effect on human attractiveness to An. gambiae mosquitoes, but beer consumption increased volunteer attractiveness. Body odours of volunteers who consumed beer increased mosquito activation (proportion of mosquitoes engaging in take-off and up-wind flight) and orientation (proportion of mosquitoes flying towards volunteers` odours).

2. It can take up to four years to develop malaria symptoms

Rarer strains of the disease lie dormant, meaning it can take months or even years before you get ill. In exceptionally rare cases malaria sufferers have fallen ill four years after being infected.

3. Snow White`s Seven Dwarfs were enlisted in a propaganda war on malaria



Yes, you read that correctly. In 1943 Disney was called on to produce a film raising public health awareness. In perhaps the strangest public service announcement of the 20th century, the dwarves learn about the menace of malaria-carrying mosquitoes and how to thwart them. Its title: The Winged Scourge.


4. Only female mosquitoes transmit malaria
Whereas the male of the species are timid and stick to plants, female mosquitoes love to suck blood, rendering them a deadly vehicle for the disease.

5. A quarter of a million people die every year from taking fake anti-malaria drugs
The World Health Organisation has estimated that around 20 per cent of the one million deaths caused by malaria annually can be blamed on counterfeit drugs. Smithsonian Magazine recently exposed a Cambodian crime ring for selling malaria "medicines" to pharmacies that turned out to be bags of flour.


6. Malaria has killed four popes and at least eight presidents suffered from it



George Washington
George Washington was struck down by malaria and it is also blamed for the deaths of Pope Leo and Pope Sixtus, to name just three high profile sufferers of the disease.

7. Mosquitoes carrying malaria behave like vampires
Just like Count Dracula, female mosquitoes rise at dusk and embark on a blood-sucking binge until dawn, passing on the disease through their deadly bite.

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