The U.S. Public Health Service · Episode 21 of 34 · 47 min
Malaria: The Disease That Created the CDC
Malaria was an American disease, endemic across the South and Mississippi Valley, and its biggest legacy is an institution: the CDC. To protect Army camps in World War II the Public Health Service set up a malaria control office in Atlanta in 1942, which Joseph Mountin reorganized in 1946 into the Communicable Disease Center. The U.S. declared malaria eliminated in 1951, though it was already falling before DDT.
Who's who
- Joseph W. MountinPHS visionary regarded as the CDC's father
- Ronald RossBritish scientist who proved mosquitoes transmit malaria in 1897
Where it happens
- Atlanta, Georgia+10 more episodesHome of the malaria control office and the CDC
- Southern United StatesRegion where malaria was endemic
Timeline
- 1897Ronald Ross proves mosquito transmission of malaria
- 1942Office of Malaria Control in War Areas established in Atlanta
- July 1, 1946Office becomes the Communicable Disease Center
- July 1, 1947National Malaria Eradication Program begins DDT house spraying
- 1951U.S. declares malaria eliminated
- 2023First locally acquired U.S. malaria cases in two decades
Still debated
Malaria was already in steep decline before the DDT program, because of drainage, screening, better housing, and out-migration, so DDT finished the job rather than won the war alone. Elimination of local transmission differs from global eradication, and DDT was later restricted for ecological harm.
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