First Locally Acquired U.S. Malaria Cases in 20 Years Reported in Texas and Florida

First Locally Acquired U.S. Malaria Cases in 20 Years Reported in Texas and Florida

Malaria is one of the oldest known diseases on Earth. It’s also one of the deadliest killer diseases in the world, and killed between 150- to 300-million people in the 20th century alone.

It the post-World-War-II era, there was a push to eradicate the mosquito-borne disease in this country. Americans had been freed for over 2 decades from being infected in this country. The disease was declared eradicated in this country in the 1970’s.

However, there are disturbing new reports that locally acquired cases have been recorded in Texas and Florida.

Malaria, a potentially deadly disease caused by a mosquito-borne parasite, is making inroads into the US.

Five new cases of malaria — one in Texas and four in Florida — are alarming officials because they were locally acquired, meaning a mosquito in the US was carrying the parasite.

That hasn’t happened since 2003 in Palm Beach County, Florida, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention.

Almost all cases of malaria now seen in the US are from people who traveled outside the country, where they were exposed to disease-carrying mosquitoes.

But these five new cases — seen in people who hadn’t traveled abroad — raise fears that local mosquitoes could be spreading the disease to other people.

Malaria caused by a parasite (one of 5 species of Plasmodium). The Plasmodium parasite that causes malaria is neither a virus nor a bacteria, rather it is a single-celled organism that multiplies in red blood cells of humans and in the mosquito intestine. The parasitic infection, spread by Anopheles mosquitoes, can usually be effectively treated with medical intervention. However, as noted above, untreated or severe cases can be fatal.

The new cases in Florida were identified in Sarasota County, the state’s Department of Health said. Officials in the state issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory on Monday. All four individuals who caught the illness in the state have been treated and have recovered.

A health advisory has also been issued in Texas.

Malaria, which is caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito, can be fatal. The World Health Organization estimates the disease killed 619,000 people worldwide in 2021. But the illness can be treated and cured with prescription medications.

Symptoms include high fevers, shaking chills and flu-like illness. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may also occur. While most people show symptoms that start 10 days to 4 weeks after infection, a person may feel ill as late as one year after infection.

Florida has ramped up mosquito-control efforts in the wake of this development.

Chris Lesser, director of the Manatee County mosquito control district, said they’re primarily using helicopters to combat the mosquito population because they cover between 15,000 and 20,000 acres (6070 to 8082 hectares) in one night. A truck can only cover around 1,000 acres (404 hectares) a night, he said.

“We really want to focus on killing the adult mosquito before they have the opportunity to feed on one person that may be infected with malaria and then transmit that disease to a second person,” Lesser said.

He said the time frame for when a mosquito can become infected to when it can transmit the disease to a person is about 14 days.

“So we´re trying to get in there about once every seven to 10 days and really knock down the mosquito population. And that process will continue until the public health alert that we´re currently under is lifted,” Lesser said.

“It’s a curtain,” he continued. “We’re trying to keep the malaria mosquitos from coming into our county through our southern border by using aggressive mosquito control activities.”

As I am a fan of ancient Egypt, I would like to conclude by noting that a study from the Journal of the American Medical Association theorized that the famous King Tutankhamun died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria.

King Tutankhamen, the boy pharaoh, was frail and lame and suffered “multiple disorders” when he died at age 19 about 1324 B.C., but scientists have now determined the most likely agents of death: a severe bout of malaria combined with a degenerative bone condition.

The researchers said that to their knowledge “this is the oldest genetic proof of malaria in precisely dated mummies.” Several other mummies in the study also showed DNA evidence of the presence of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, perhaps not surprising in a place like the Nile Valley.

Here’s hoping the ancient scourge remains essentially eradicated in this country, and the case numbers remain low.

But, given how 2023 is going, I would not bet on it.

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