Florida, Texas report first locally acquired malaria cases in US since 2003
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Key takeaways:
- Five locally acquire malaria cases have been reported in the United States, four in Florida and one in Texas.
- They are the first locally acquired cases of malaria in the United States in 20 years.
The CDC issued a health alert Monday after two states reported the first locally acquired malaria cases in the United States in 20 years.
In the last 2 months, there have been four reported cases of the mosquito-borne disease in Florida and one in Texas. All five patients have since received treatment and are improving, the CDC said.
Local transmission means that the patients were bitten in the U.S. rather than acquiring the disease in another country.
According to the CDC, there is no evidence to suggest that the cases in the two states are related, but active surveillance for additional cases is ongoing and mosquito surveillance and control measures have been implemented in the affected areas.
The risk of acquiring malaria in the U.S. remains “extremely low,” the agency said.
According to the CDC, around 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, but they are usually connected to people who have traveled to and from countries with endemic malaria transmission, such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The five new transmissions are the first locally acquired malaria cases in the U.S. since eight cases were reported in Palm Beach County, Florida, in 2003.
“Malaria is a medical emergency and should be treated accordingly," the CDC wrote in a Health Alert Network Health Advisory. "Patients suspected of having malaria should be urgently evaluated in a facility that is able to provide rapid diagnosis and treatment, within 24 hours of presentation."
IV artesunate has been the first-line treatment for severe malaria in the U.S. since 2019 — before it was even approved by the FDA in 2020 — and is the only drug available to in the U.S. to treat the disease. A study published in 2021 in Clinical Infectious Diseases found that it was safe and effective in treating severe malaria in U.S. adults.
The CDC recommends that hospitals either stock IV artesunate or have a plan to get it in an emergency. The CDC set up a website with information on how to acquire the medication.
There have been recent advancements in malaria prevention, including the rollout of the first ever WHO-recommended malaria vaccine and promising findings from another malaria vaccine that had an efficacy of more than 75% in a phase 2b trial.
Reference:
- CDC. Health Alert Network. Locally acquired malaria cases identified in the United States. https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2023/han00494.asp. Published June 26, 2023. Accessed June 27, 2023.
- CDC. Intravenous artesunate for treatment of severe malaria in the United States. https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/artesunate.html. Last reviewed June 26, 2023. Accessed June 27, 2023.
Collapse
CDC. Health Alert Network. Locally acquired malaria cases identified in the United States. https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2023/han00494.asp. Published June 26, 2023. Accessed June 27, 2023.
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts