A group of similar life threatening diseases found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Malaria is caused by any of four different microorganisms called plasmodia (Plasmodium falciparum, vivax, ovale, and malariae). These single-celled organisms are transmitted from person to person mostly by anopheles mosquitoes as they extract blood. Symptoms of malaria include chills, high fever, and sometimes fatal irregularities of the brain, liver, kidney, and/or blood. There are at least 100,000,000 new cases of malaria reported annually around the world. Approximately 1,500,000 people die from it each year (mostly children--3,000 children die of malaria every day).