National Malaria Eradication Program

[2] The expansion of agriculture in the North often involved clearing forests and draining swamps, reducing the breeding area for mosquitoes.

In the spring of 1941 the PHS assigned its chief malariologist, Louis L. Williams, Jr., as liaison officer to the Fourth Service Command's headquarters in Atlanta.

Early in 1942 the PHS obtained funds for an independent malarial control program for military installations and war industries in 15 southeastern states and the Caribbean.

DDT was applied to the interior surfaces of rural homes or entire premises in counties where malaria was reported to have been prevalent in recent years.

In addition, wetland drainage, removal of mosquito breeding sites, and DDT spraying (occasionally from aircraft) were all pursued.

By the end of 1949, over 4,650,000 housespray applications had been made and the United States was declared free of malaria as a significant public health problem.

By 1951, malaria was considered eliminated altogether from the country and the CDC gradually withdrew from active participation in the operational phases of the program, shifting its interest to surveillance.

[citation needed] A major international effort along the lines of the NMEP—the Global Malaria Eradication Programme (1955–1969), administered by the World Health Organization—was unsuccessful.