Malaria Is Contracted Within U.S. Borders for First Time in Two Decades
Health officials warn summer travel could also bring more imported cases
Five cases of malaria have been identified in the U.S., marking the first time since 2003 that the disease has been acquired within the country, federal health officials said.
Four people in Florida and one in Texas contracted the mosquito-borne disease over the past several weeks, according to a health advisory issued Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those patients have received treatment and are improving, the CDC said.
Health officials in Texas and Florida are surveying for additional cases and have implemented mosquito-control measures.
The risk of acquiring malaria in the U.S. is extremely low, the CDC said. But it is higher in places where mosquitoes survive for most the year and where many travelers are coming from places where malaria is more common.
Malaria is a potentially fatal disease and should be treated as a medical emergency, health officials said.
Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle pain and fatigue.
The disease is transmitted through mosquito bites.
Malaria can’t be spread person-to-erson.
Malaria spread in the U.S. through the mid-20th century.
The U.S. eliminated malaria in 1951 through a campaign of applying the insecticide DDT, improving drainage and removing mosquito-breeding sites.
Most of the 240 million cases of malaria each year occur in Africa.
Most malaria cases in the U.S. are imported by people traveling to places with higher transmission rates such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The World Health Organization for the first time recommended a malaria vaccine in 2021 for children in sub-Saharan Africa.
The vaccine had been under development since the 1980s.
Nearly 1.5 million children at high risk of illness and death from malaria in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received their first dose of the vaccine, according to the WHO.
Increased international travel this summer could cause a rise in imported malaria cases, the CDC said.
About 2,000 cases of malaria were reported annually in the U.S. before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the health agency.
Health officials in Sarasota and Manatee counties near Tampa, Fla., issued a mosquito-borne illness alert earlier this month after identifying confirmed cases of locally-acquired malaria. Texas officials said last week a person contracted malaria after spending time working outdoors in Cameron County, located near the southern border on the Gulf of Mexico.
Locally-acquired malaria last occurred in the U.S. in 2003, when eight cases were identified in Palm Beach County, Fla., according to the CDC.