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It is believed that the Incas used anesthesia. Evidence supports the theory that shamans chewed cocoa leaves and drilled holes into the heads of patients (letting evil spirits escape), spitting into the wounds they made. The mixture of cocaine, saliva, and resin numbed the site enough to allow hours of drilling.
In 1835 it was discovered that a disease of silkworms known as muscardine could be transferred from one silkworm to another, and was caused by a fungus.
Approximately 500,000 babies are born each year in the United States to teenage mothers.
About 100 new prescription or over-the-counter drugs come into the U.S. market every year.
Malaria was not eliminated in the United States until 1951. The term eliminated means that no new cases arise in a country for 3 years.