Malaria is not something most American have to think about, but across the world it is a deadly part of everyday life. It is most prevalent around the equator and tropical regions.
Malaria has plagued mankind for centuries. Everything taken into account, it probably kills more than 1-2 million people each year. It is a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. If humankind could find a way to dampen the effects of malaria, we would do just about anything to achieve that. This is where DDT comes into play. As my other link explains, DDT is extremely efficient at killing mosquitoes. It is also way cheap to produce and it lasts much longer, up to 6 months, in the environment. It was seen as the perfect chemical to destroy malaria.
Once DDT was put into action in the 40s and 50s the cases of malaria plummeted. Many countries were already fighting malaria with other chemicals but they weren't as effective. DDT essentially came in and finished off malaria in many countries. Thanks to DDT, malaria is virtually non existent in some countries and continents. In Sri Lanka, there was 2.8 million cases of malaria in 1948, that number dropped to 17 cases in 1963 thanks in large part to DDT. While it is still illegal to spray DDT, there are some places like Africa where you can spray it on the interior walls of your house to repel mosquitoes. This way it protects your home, without getting into the ecosystem.
The only downside(known at the time) to DDT from the scientists perspective was that mosquitoes became resistant to DDT after 7 years. After 7 years, you could stop spraying for a time and then re-apply. However, they would become resistant again in only 7 months this time. Other insects also became completely immune to DDT.
Once DDT was put into action in the 40s and 50s the cases of malaria plummeted. Many countries were already fighting malaria with other chemicals but they weren't as effective. DDT essentially came in and finished off malaria in many countries. Thanks to DDT, malaria is virtually non existent in some countries and continents. In Sri Lanka, there was 2.8 million cases of malaria in 1948, that number dropped to 17 cases in 1963 thanks in large part to DDT. While it is still illegal to spray DDT, there are some places like Africa where you can spray it on the interior walls of your house to repel mosquitoes. This way it protects your home, without getting into the ecosystem.
The only downside(known at the time) to DDT from the scientists perspective was that mosquitoes became resistant to DDT after 7 years. After 7 years, you could stop spraying for a time and then re-apply. However, they would become resistant again in only 7 months this time. Other insects also became completely immune to DDT.