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Testing Blood

A sample of blood seems to captivate young locals at a malaria testing center in Iquitos, Peru. The first widely known remedy—from the bark of the cinchona tree—was discovered in the region in the early 1600s. The medicine, which became known as quinine, was so promising that malaria-ravaged Europe mounted expeditions to acquire the plant. Today, scientists search for more ways to fight the disease—including the development of a vaccine—as the parasite becomes resistant to the most common course of drugs.

Photograph by John Stanmeyer