Florida malaria cases on the rise

MIAMI – There are two more cases of locally acquired malaria in Sarasota County, according to the Florida Department of Health, bringing the total number of cases to six in the state.

In late June, the Florida Department issued a statewide mosquito-borne disease advisory following the first four cases of malaria.

The Texas Department of Health Services said Friday there was still only one case of malaria, but it was still tracking other cases. Texas is also monitoring the region’s mosquito population for the disease.

These locally acquired cases of malaria are the first in the United States in the past 20 years, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Malaria is spread when a female Anopheles mosquito infected with a protozoan parasite of the genus Plasmodium bites a human. Most cases diagnosed in the United States are imported. Worldwide, there are around 247 million cases each year, 95% of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Usually, when someone has a rare case of malaria in the United States, it’s after someone has traveled to a country where malaria is more common. Only about 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed each year in the United States.

This could change with the climate crisis. Scientists have warned people that malaria could become more common in the United States as temperatures warm.

The CDC says the risk of locally acquired malaria is still considered extremely low in the United States and that there is no evidence to suggest that the cases in Florida and Texas are linked to each other.

It would be of “limited value” to test mosquitoes for Plasmodium outside of the area where the locally transmitted cases were found, the CDC says, and there is no reason to believe that other areas exhibit a higher risk of local malaria transmission.

With the busy summer travel season, the CDC said, more people could bring the disease back to the United States. The CDC encourages people to use insect repellent while traveling and at home, especially during the hotter summer months.

CBS Miami Team

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