Use of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) enabled much of the world to control most infectious diseases, 80 percent of which are transmitted by arthropod vectors such as mosquitoes, biting flies, fleas, ticks, lice, and mites.1,2 Since these vectors account for more than 70 percent of animal species,3 the odds are stacked against avoiding these diseases, especially in the tropics.Although diseases such as malaria and other parasitic diseases, yellow fever, dengue, plague, and typhus have largely disappeared in developed nations, in poorer countries they continue to cause significant numbers of fatalities. Of these diseases, malaria is currently the leading cause of death globally.
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