US records malaria cases again after 20 years and issues health warning

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to us On Monday the 3rd, it confirmed five people and issued a health alert Malaria cases in the country; First recorded local exchanges in 20 years. Malaria is not endemic in the United States and cases may be related Climate changes. The disease is common in hot, tropical or subtropical regions where the climate is favorable for the proliferation of vector-borne mosquitoes.

Four cases have been confirmed in Florida and one in Texas. According to health officials, the cases may not be related. Malaria is caused by a parasite of the genus Malaria Plasmodium It reaches humans through the bite of an unclean woman Anopheles, Also called mosquito-claw. The disease initially manifests as a fever, with the first symptoms appearing nine to 14 days after infection.

Symptoms include fever, joint pain, headache, vomiting, convulsions and coma. If left untreated, the disease can kill.

All patients are being treated and recovering, the CDC said. Health officials have recommended mosquito prevention and surveillance measures in the affected areas. Florida issued a warning after cases of malaria were detected, urging people to empty containers of clean standing water — ideal for mosquito breeding. Texas issued a similar warning.

“Despite confirmed cases, the risk of local transmission of malaria remains very low in the United States,” the CDC explained. The last was in 2003, when eight cases were detected in Palm Beach, Florida. Almost all malaria cases in the United States are imported by travelers to endemic countries.

In 2021, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 619,000 deaths from malaria were recorded worldwide, the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. In Brazil, most cases of malaria are concentrated in the Amazon region.