By Amy Burkholder
CNN Medical Producer

Her system primed with the anti-malaria drug Malarone and her body misted in repellant, Emily Bergantino recalls walking to a remote African village across an empty riverbed littered with pools of stagnant water. "Here I was, in a breeding ground – mosquitos were buzzing around everywhere – it was a malarial mosquito paradise."

And, she recalls the surprise she got when entering the village, one of many scattered along the Zambezi River.

"The villagers greeted us – it was very impromptu – with a skit and musical – acting out how a mosquito bites you, how you get chills –and fever- they pulled me in, pretending to bite me, " she laughs. The skit continued with the malaria workers hanging a bednet from a nearby tree, miming to villagers how, if you simply sleep under the net, it could save your life. And they got it. “These people don't need us to go in every night, they only need the tools, the knowledge – they have the drive to prevent it,” she muses.

Bergantino, who works for “Malaria No More”  an organization that just back from the "Roll Back Malaria Zambezi Expedition,”  a two-month mission down the Zambezi River to deliver bed nets and medications to remote river communities along the Zambezi River, including Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Another goal, promoting cross-border collaboration to control a highly preventable mosquito-disease that kills over one million people every year, most of them children and pregnant women. 3,000 children die each day of malaria – each death, so easily spared by a $10 bednet, or a $2 drug treatment – but out of reach for people who typically live on less than a dollar a day.

Organizations such as Bergantino's employer Malaria No More, the Global Fund, World Bank, United Nations Foundation and Gates Foundation all understand malaria's toll – and are making prevention priority one. But the uncertain news – will malaria re-emerge in new areas, as the global climate changes?

The World Health Organization acknowledges an important link between a warmer world and mosquito diseases - malaria in Africa- Dengue in Rio – West Nile in New York – and the CDC tells CNN if temperatures increase by just 3-4 degrees, we will see a very different distribution vector disease worldwide. Imagine malaria at your backdoor – it could happen, experts say. Malaria was endemic in the United States prior to the 1940s and it was in fact controlling malaria that led to the formation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

After seeing a 3-year-old child crying in her father's arms, burning with malarial fever – for Bergantino, the war on the mosquito became very personal – and in a way, frustrating because she sees it as a such a simple, solvable equation.

"We can get lost in this broad concept of global health – but it's as simple as a single mosquito biting a child, and that child dying. One bednet protects a child. If the tool is available, a family stays intact."

If you're a soldier in the mosquito war, and have your own innovative solutions – we'd love to hear from you.

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.

By Amy Burkholder
CNN Medical producer

I'm sprinting - straining - at maximum capacity, desperate to keep my battalion of determined men and women in sight – knowing one missed step could leave me stranded – and vulnerable to the enemy, in this case are the much faster runners – on a bench in Central Park.    

I'm not on a maneuver, I'm fighting for survival at  Aussie Boot Camp, a program promising to target my "problem areas" through lamp post sprints, lunges, stairs, tricep dips and push-ups – and deliver a better body – in time for the Hamptons.

"At Aussie Boot Camp, you'll get physical fitness results, improve your breathing, and your lifestyle, " promises Luke Milton, the 6 foot 2, blond, professional rugby player and personal trainer who conducts 'Aussie Boot Camp' in New York's Central Park.  (Luke has memorized everyones' names and intuits how much encouragement they need in moments – and I secretly begin believing, if you can't put out for Luke, who can motivate you?) 

"Boot camp" is a marketing catchall – there are bikini boot camps, bridal boot camps – and exercise experts point to these fitness, military-style boot camps as one of the fastest growing fitness trends in the country.  Many run an hour a day, $20 bucks or much more an hour – four or five days a week for six weeks – the duration of real military boot camp. But while the U.S.  Army promises "no bull, no bias, no pressure," and to "transform you physically, mentally and emotionally" – many fitness boot camps promise a 5 percent reduction in body fat, a 1o to 15 pound weight loss, a 25 percent improvement in strength – oh, and that beach body. 

Can fitness boot camp really do all that – and transform you in a matter of weeks? Yes, says Dr. William Roberts, former president of the American College of Sports Medicine – but it's going to hurt a little.  "You can get in pretty good shape in four to six weeks," says Roberts, who holds out the military as an example -it expects its recruits to be whipped into shape in a very short amount of time. With the consistent, sustained exercise the boot camp promises, you can also expect to lose weight – you may not go from 190 to 165, but a 5- to 10-pound weight loss may be realistic. 

One key, says Dr. Roberts, is to get checked out and train before you start boot camp. Even the military asks new recruits to prepare physically before they arrive.  Going from zero to a boot camp workout can increase your risk not only for serious cardiac events and muscle strain, but it may also leave you sore and discouraged for the next session – and more likely to quit.

Dr. Roberts said think of enlisting in a fitness boot camp as you would preparing for a marathon – you need a beating heart, a tested heart, a trained heart – and – a lot of heart.   Aussie Milton echoes that heart business – he says as important as the lamppost  sprints is the sense of belonging. "I don't want to be an army drill sergeant, but I want people get in shape and feel like a part of a team. " Milton continues, "This feeling of being a part of a team builds consistency in your lifestyle, makes you more likely to show up – and to work harder for that team. "

But what about taking one for the team – in the form of burning thighs and arms so exhausted you can barely raise them? As a boot camp participant – I guarantee you will be "feeling the burn," but exercise experts disagree whether that really does a body any good. High-intensity training may help the body create proteins that help the body use lactic acid to create energy, but an hour of sustained high-intensity exercise doesn't do as much good as interval training – a workout with exercise highs,  and rest periods that can  improve cardiovascular health, and burn fat.

What do you think of fitness boot camps – have you tried one? Did you get a bikini body, or burn out?  

We'd love to hear from you.

Editor’s Note: Medical news is a popular but sensitive subject rooted in science. We receive many comments on this blog each day; not all are posted. Our hope is that much will be learned from the sharing of useful information and personal experiences based on the medical and health topics of the blog. We encourage you to focus your comments on those medical and health topics and we appreciate your input. Thank you for your participation.