José de Souza Nogueira is 63 and says he has had malaria more than 130 times. It is an exceptionally high number, even for a country like Brazil, where the mosquito-borne disease is endemic. But doctors agree that it is quite possible for a smallholder farmer who has spent his entire life in rural areas – the mosquito’s preferred breeding ground.
“I work and live alone, selling what I grow: bananas, oranges, sugarcane, cassava … When I have malaria, I can’t tend to the plants,” he says.
