America's research program to combat malaria during World War II--a campaign modeled after a German project which tested experimental drugs on men gone mad from syphilis. American war planners, foreseeing the tactical need for a malaria drug, established the biggest and most important medical initiative of the war, drawing upon the resources of the country's top research scientists and university labs to find a treatment to treat half a million U.S. troops incapacitated by malaria. Spearheading the effort was Dr. Lowell T. Coggeshall, the son of a poor Indiana farmer whose persistent drive and curiousity led him to become one of the most innovative thinkers in solving the malaria problem. He recruited private corporations, such as today's Squibb and Eli Lilly, and the nation's best chemists out of Harvard and Johns Hopkins to make novel compounds that skilled technicians tested on birds. The experimental drugs were first tested on mental health patients and convicted criminals -- including infamous murderer Nathan Leopold. By 1943, a dozen strains of malaria brought home in the veins of sick soldiers were injected into these human guinea pigs for drug studies. After hundreds of trials and many deaths, they found their 'magic bullet,' but not in a U.S. laboratory. America's best weapon against malaria, still used today, was captured in battle from the Nazis. Called chloroquine, it went on to save more lives than any other drug in history. Malaria still kills over 500,000 people a year, mostly in Africa. The complete story behind this tale of epidemic disease, science, medicine and war.

2015-10

Lowell T. Coggeshall -- Fever Therapy -- Making of a Malaria Warrior -- From Insects to Medicine -- A Nobel Prize -- Divided Loyalties -- Germany and Magic Bullets -- Eradication -- Claus Schilling -- A New Plan -- Africa -- Bataan -- War on Mosquitoes -- Guadalcanal -- A Malaria Manhattan Project -- Better to Be Yellow -- The Other Side -- Taking Tunis -- Mosquito Brigades -- The Jump -- Malaria and the Madmen -- The Convicts -- Supply and Demand -- Whoville -- The Breakthrough -- Stateville -- Taking Command -- Klamath Falls -- Victory of Sorts -- A Miracle of Sorts.