EDITOR’S NOTE It began suddenly, just before lunch, as our Land Rover bounced over a dirt track on a dusty plain in Tanzania. Fatigue, | thought, or maybe the heat. Maybe | just needed to stop, stretch, and eat. But lunch provided no relief. My stomach was in knots. I climbed back into the vehicle. Soon my churning stomach became the least of my concerns. My head hurt so badly | thought it would explode. My vision blurred. My body ached as if I'd been trampled by a rhino. In late afternoon, | rolled out of the Land Rover and lay on the ground, helplessly inert. One instant my body was on fire, the next I was freezing. Shivering uncontrollably, | curled up in the dirt and drifted off into a fog. “Looks like he’s got malaria,” | heard my guide say, somewhere in the distance. “I've got a medicine kit,” | mumbled. He rooted around in a metal box, found a bottle of tetracy- cline, and fed me a mega- dose. Then he gave me Fansidar, a potent anti- malarial drug. | swallowed the pills, not caring what they were, hoping | could keep them down. The fever broke at two in the morning. Less than three hours later, | slowly began to climb the Maasai’s sacred 10,000-foot volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai. | felt drained, dehydrated—and glad to be alive. But how to explain the malaria? Though I'd been taking chloroquine and Paludrine, two antimalarial drugs, for months, my defense was, literally, full of holes. A few weeks earlier, I'd discovered several tears in my mosquito net. | was working in an area in Kenya known for a virulent strain of malaria and assumed the drugs would pro- tect me. But the mosquito that infected me carried parasites that had developed resistance to those drugs. They were useless. | was fortunate. | survived. Many do not. Malaria kills 3,000 African children every day. That's more than a million lives a year. This month's cover story takes us to the front lines of the battle against one of the world’s deadliest, most costly, diseases. Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria. oe NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC orok mo Che Jonas wore corona Pane lerecue eorons Cerna A Omi eur Cam whee tuatcon or meroomner Dad ifn Anroetcion Chace Bow ra wean Red Covey sssocure wore Robe. Socth WssowPnoieis Chisoper lean rests oon Ones Pane Son ooo ya Dn et. del K Boe. {eroronmert. rw ierecnes) ain. {Manasera same Sere Scere) fro a unce Seg Haes Cay Newnan Feavne eons: le Ovand aet Porous (cans sewn oro eter can ses as Mn Mstgor fem one Gwe Waren RRS sexe rs Cat Pt nese, oumesme we: Canine Sacco ta Game ‘Oavid Quammen apt scraruons onto: ar Geant Senronceon ae ergot our amar St A rity oon eorous Dou, aha Eehar. Ren Ge. {Digit Stems). Kany Meta al tar ROR Michie Susea Beearn Souon oro coro Gal. Fane od James, Fst Saran Uren, Sade Quis mavo aro Usteway ee moroonone (oe, Micon Nico he ‘erat nan Roocev Hora, Eovera Sane. & ‘se Pero exo: Ute Soage Roger ems Dave ates, Kean owebes, Key Voracen xeon amecron: OnidC. Yh tbs nceron etm € NeNSy Sdvon casun earon Elune Brae. oxen Eor08 SehU Ratouslas, toon suovessoron oan Ves Stan eatocnmeotont ares Huns (Gos Pus eaoounw ero Uae A cer emcees Sena Coates ben oesene Bet) Cayman Oe Heather yan Olver e's pacoueno Mare uz limes MeGebsna Crde Roches seston cncron: Late 3. Reet Sort onscton Oona Bence 8s oaeron Botan Teton nczeanen sore Ware © che tice S Jones, any & ah ary Hcbesk Ped ‘eet Woodsel, Basra Vireo sowon nea ‘ra Galaghe Er Kuga: Meta J Larson ary denngs Lge! Dasd& O Coma’ Babe Sod Shot Spey, Cry Ute Coueage Rance hiss Te oes hs Saas 8 esas mts canana ac: Lise Hany Propuctn: Keene Hep es Vitam fery Gear J Haman Jenn aE Fes Canoy Renee Brace fea Bistce. aoe ‘ane Mae Houppet an Emus Kaen Minas tne oneron Crs € Gus ‘rac none ongcon Thomas J Cai Clara & uineslon Png EPude Bu'a!dG.Guatice ‘nrmauyon once Nchasl Sat aur a" Feicers panning dosepn Ml. AngI200, Eovd ‘Sour aageron Rona Evilarson SreohenhGameta woe meson mo vs rar ious Hitey nano soenrns onion: Jey 2 fest). ohn Paton (aster). omrons Ron Boe Fest Coa ele). cht py Drtg) ws. sno connor: Margaret Robeson, wuucens: Bod ‘Koei (Gounean, Jota lnasone (Son Fares) Sais (eon, wremunou vce maseod ao mus Beciaa ios ontctons Seve Misaston (in), Oo (Dacian bears, peactons: Seve Beeson ee Coe