{"id":59532,"date":"2023-07-05T10:26:21","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T14:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psi.org\/?post_type=news&p=59532"},"modified":"2023-07-05T10:26:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T14:26:23","slug":"locally-transmitted-malaria-detected-in-u-s-for-first-time-in-20-years","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.psi.org\/pt\/news\/locally-transmitted-malaria-detected-in-u-s-for-first-time-in-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Locally Transmitted Malaria Detected in U.S. For First Time in 20 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This piece originally ran on Healthline.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced<\/a>\u00a0this week that they had identified locally-transmitted\u00a0malaria<\/a>\u00a0cases in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five cases were identified in Florida and Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time in 20 years these types of cases have been identified in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually if malaria cases are detected in the U.S. they are from people who picked up the disease while traveling from areas of the world where malaria is more common, like parts of Africa and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is malaria?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Malaria is a\u00a0parasitic<\/a>\u00a0disease that is spread via\u00a0mosquitoes<\/a>. There are four types of malaria parasites that can infect humans according to the\u00a0CDCTrusted Source<\/a>. These are\u00a0Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, P. ovale<\/em>, and\u00a0P. malariae.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Daniel Parker (PhD)<\/a>, an assistant professor of public health at the University of California-Irvine whose research focuses on mapping out infectious diseases like malaria, says that it\u2019s not time for alarm at this stage in the U.S.

\u201cWe have a tendency towards panic, and that\u2019s never really good. It\u2019s not really fruitful in general, I think it\u2019s worth keeping an eye on and being vigilant, but not panic.\u201d

The CDC estimates that around 2,000 cases per year come from travelers. Malaria is spread by a particular type of mosquito, named the anopheles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, globally the disease is much more common. About 247 million cases of malaria occurred in 2020 and approximately 619,000 deaths were linked to the disease, according to the World Health OrganizationTrusted Source<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Christopher Louren\u00e7o (PhD)<\/a>, who is the acting director of malaria with international NGO Population Services International, says that it\u2019s important to remember that while this local transmission is new, these mosquitoes and their presence in the US is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a vector-borne disease. So this isn\u2019t something that someone\u2019s going to breathe on you and you\u2019re going to get it. The risk of getting onward transmission is rare,\u201d Louren\u00e7o said. \u201cYes, those mosquitoes exist, those anopheles mosquitoes exist that can transmit malaria, but they\u2019ve always been there too. So it\u2019s just that reminder that this is really a rarity.\u201d

The CDC says that the reason for the health advisory was to make both the public and practitioners aware of these cases. They can also raise awareness surrounding the risk of international travel, and mobilize healthcare providers so that first-line treatments are more readily available for anyone who becomes ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaria has been found in the U.S. before<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The US has had a lengthy history with malaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, one of the reasons the\u00a0CDC was founded and located in AtlantaTrusted Source<\/a>\u00a0was because of the frequency of malaria transmission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorically, in the past, malaria we pretty well eliminated in the US back in the 1950s,\u201d Parker said. \u201cBut we still have the mosquitoes, still have people moving around, and the ranges of those mosquitoes is likely shifting and will continue to shift due to weather patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parker says that now, partially due to a changing climate, the risk of transmission has heightened, even if it is still very low.

Louren\u00e7o said that these cases are a good reminder that public health groups need sustained funding in order to keep tabs on infectious diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI kind of tell people, maybe that\u2019ll help with our continued bipartisan support for malaria funding is, you know, reminding people to keep the investment in public health surveillance systems running because things like this can happen and if we can catch it early and detect it early, then it shouldn\u2019t be a problem,\u201d Louren\u00e7o said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The signs of\u00a0malaria<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

But what if you live in Florida and Texas and are concerned about your risk?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Alan Bulbin (MD)<\/a>, the director of the Department of infectious disease at New York\u2019s St. Francis Hospital, says that if you are concerned there are certain symptoms you can look out for.

\u201cIt can be kind of nonspecific and look like a lot of other sorts of nonspecific illness, including fever, chills,\u00a0body aches<\/a>, headaches, you can even have diarrhea,\u201d Bulbin said. \u201cIf any of those symptoms go beyond the usual, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s just going to be a simple\u00a0viral<\/a>\u00a0event that lasts one or two days,\u2019 but if it\u2019s dragging on you need to get checked out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the CDCTrusted Source<\/a>, other symptoms of malaria include the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n