[colingauvin]

Your comment is a stark reminder that I take for granted that the single biggest killer of human beings in history is simply something I don't have to think about. For some reason, I'd have thought there'd be no overlap between HN commenters and malaria - shows my blind spot.

If what you say is accurate (that malaria can remain dormant) then I agree that I don't see how DNA is proof of how they died. Certainly, regardless of how they died the malaria didn't help, and a double infection is likely even worse, but yeah if you have it chronically then DNA alone is insufficient.