MALARIA!!!!

So my lovely wife bought me a subscription to National Geographic. And I read the following sentence in one of the articles about malaria. It was such a dumbfounding statement that I had to post it. The article talks about how rampant malaria has been throughout history. And then it says:

"A million Union Army casualties in the U.S. Civil War are attributed to malaria, and in the Pacific theater of World War II casualties from the disease exceeded those from combat. Some scientists believe that one out of every two people who have ever lived have died of malaria."

I read the last sentence 5 times before it sunk in. "one out of every two people who have ever lived". Makes bird flu look pretty lame huh?

Greg