[Malaria in Norway--a tropical disease off the track?].

Today, malaria is most often thought of as a tropical disease. Two and a half billion of the world's population live in malaria endemic areas, most of them in the tropics, and one million die of malaria annually. The explanation of the appearance and disappearance of malaria is multifactorial. However, increasing interest is being shown in the socioeconomic aspects of many diseases, and it is interesting to observe that diseases found in Europe as late as in the 18th and 19th century are also predominant in today's developing countries. Research in medical history can make a significant contribution to the efforts to find the reasons for the appearance and disappearance of a disease. It is well known that malaria was common on the European continent, but it is less well known that malaria also existed in Norway during the 19th century.