In the beginning of the Second World War, a disease called malaria proved to be heavily detrimental to the allied forces and their fight against dictatorship. Malaria, which produces extremely high fevers and other flu-like symptoms due to a specific infected mosquito bite, was the cause of death for roughly 500,000 American soldiers at the dawn of World War II. In addition to high fevers, excessive sweating and the chills were also among the common symptoms of malaria, which had the power to put soldiers out of combat for up to a week or more.