US health authorities issued an alert after confirming five cases of malaria in the states of Florida and Texas, although they reported that the risk of contagion locally is “extremely low.” These are the first cases in that territory in two decades, all of them under treatment and favorable evolution.
The alert, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), acknowledged that "there is concern about a potential increase in imported malaria cases associated with increased international travel in summer 2023."
As reported by the AFP agency , the CDC specified that four infections transmitted by mosquitoes were confirmed in Florida and one in Texas and the cases in the two southern states do not appear to be related. They also clarified that "the risk of local malaria transmission remains extremely low in the US."
However, "in addition to routinely considering malaria as a cause of febrile illness among patients with a history of international travel to places where there is malaria transmission, clinicians should consider diagnosing anyone with fever of unknown origin, regardless of your travel history,” the CDC stated, which is why mosquito surveillance and control measures were implemented in the affected areas.
The state of Florida issued an alert after detecting cases in Sarasota and Manatee counties, with calls for the population to drain stagnant waters where mosquito breeding sites form.
So did Texas after a resident who works outside in Cameron County was diagnosed with malaria.
The CDC stressed that "it is collaborating with the two state health departments in ongoing investigations following local transmission of Plasmodium vivax cases ," before specifying that "there is no evidence to suggest that the cases in the two states are related." , indicated the German agency DPA.
The last local contagion of malaria in the United States had been detected in 2003, when eight people were identified in Palm Beach, Florida, the CDC indicated. Almost all cases in that country are imported, from people who travel to countries with transmission of the disease.
