(CMR) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a health alert after locally acquired cases of malaria were identified in two states, the first local cases in the US in 20 years.
Malaria is a disease spread when the female anopheline mosquito feeds on a person with malaria and then feeds on another. The mosquito can be found in certain regions in the US, but malaria is still rare in the US. Scientists have been warning people that malaria could become more common in the US as temperatures warm.
In this case, four people in Florida and one person in Texas seem to have gotten exposed to the disease locally.
The CDC said it is collaborating with the two state health departments with ongoing investigations of locally acquired mosquito-transmitted Plasmodium vivax malaria cases. There is no evidence to suggest the cases in the two states (Florida and Texas) are related.
In Florida, four cases within close geographic proximity have been identified, and active surveillance for additional cases is ongoing. Mosquito surveillance and control measures have been implemented in the affected area.
In Texas, one case has been identified, and surveillance for additional cases, as well as mosquito surveillance and control, are ongoing. All patients have received treatment and are improving, the CDC said.
Locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria has not occurred in the United States since 2003 when eight cases of locally acquired P. vivax malaria were identified in Palm Beach County, FLorida. Despite these cases, the risk of locally acquired malaria remains extremely low in the United States, according to the CDC.
However, Anopheles mosquito vectors, found throughout many regions of the country, are capable of transmitting malaria if they feed on a malaria-infected person The risk is higher in areas where local climatic conditions allow the Anopheles mosquito to survive during most of or the entire year and where travelers from malaria-endemic areas are found.
In addition to routinely considering malaria as a cause of febrile illness among patients with a history of international travel to areas where malaria is transmitted, the CDC tells clinicians to consider a malaria diagnosis in any person with a fever of unknown origin regardless of their travel history.
Malaria is a serious and potentially fatal disease transmitted through the bite of an infective female anopheline mosquito. Though rare, malaria can also be transmitted congenitally from mother to fetus or to the neonate at birth, through blood transfusion or organ transplantation, or through unsafe needle-sharing practices. Malaria is caused by any of five species of protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium: P. falciparum, P. vivax, P. malariae, P. ovale, and P. knowlesi. Worldwide, more than 240 million cases of malaria occur each year (95% in Africa).
Almost all cases of malaria in the United States are imported and occur in people traveling from countries with malaria transmission, many from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
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