The Winged Scourge

The Winged Scourge is the first of a series of health-related educational short films produced by the Disney studios and the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs for showing in Latin America. It was also the only one to use established Disney characters (the Seven Dwarfs). In this propaganda short, the viewers are taught about how mosquitoes can spread malaria. A young mosquito flies into a house and consumes the blood of an infected human. She then consumes the blood of a healthy human, transmitting the disease to him. It turns out that this is actually a film within a film and the Seven Dwarfs are watching it. The Dwarfs volunteer to get rid of the mosquito by destroying her breeding grounds and encouraging its natural predators. The short mentions the use of Paris green and motor oil to control the spread of malaria-borne mosquitoes, both of which are no longer recommended; Paris green was once used as a pigment and later an insecticide but has since been discontinued due to it being extremely poisonous.