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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

<<In a country such as the US, who does not -to the best of my knowledge-
have to worry about malaria, I think DDT would not be a good choice. We do
have West Nile Virus here, but I think DDT would be bringing out an
elephant gun to kill...well, a mosquito.>>

Until WW II during which DDT became available, malaria was endemic in
southeastern US. Does anyone know why a few years of spraying houses in
endemic areas with DDT wiped the disease out? We still have lots of marshes
(and plenty of mosquitoes).

<<But in other countries that have trouble with malaria where thousands die
because of bites by infected mosquitoes, of course DDT would be a wise
solution.  If they don't use it, many are going to die.  If they do use it,
it may cause *possible* birth defects and premature births.  >>

Many do die -- some million to million and a half people a year (and 10s of
millions suffer from the disease). I don't imagine, however, that spraying
the tropics with DDT would wipe malaria out as quickly as it was wiped out
in the US. 

I still wonder what the Vietnamese did.

Marie