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4 cases of malaria detected in Florida
Five cases of malaria have been detected in the U.S. in the past two months, the first time there's been a local spread in two decades. In Florida, four cases have been confirmed in Sarasota and Manatee counties while one has been confirmed in Texas' Cameron County, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced.
FLORIDA - Five cases of malaria have been detected in the U.S. in the past two months, the first time there's been a local spread in two decades.
In Florida, four cases have been confirmed in Sarasota and Manatee counties while one has been confirmed in Texas' Cameron County, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced. At this time, health officials said there's no reason to think the cases in these states are related.
The four Florida cases are within proximity of one another and active surveillance for other cases is ongoing amid a mosquito-borne illness alert issued in these counties.
Health officials said the risk of locally acquired malaria remains "extremely low" in the U.S.
These five cases mark the first since 2003, when eight cases of P. vivax malaria were detected in Palm Beach County.
Here's what you need to know about malaria:
What is malaria?
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caught by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito that feeds on humans, according to the CDC. It's a serious and sometimes fatal disease. Serious complications and death are possible if malaria is left untreated.
The cases identified in Florida are P. vivax species of malaria, which are not as fatal as other species, health officials said.
About 2,000 cases of malaria are detected in the U.S. every year – most of which are travelers and immigrants returning from countries where malaria is more common, the CDC said.
How do you get malaria?
Malaria is not transmitted from person to person. Infected Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria to humans and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken from an infected person, the CDC said.
How to prevent malaria
While malaria can be a deadly disease, it can usually be prevented, the CDC said.
"Drain and Cover" is a method currently being used in Sarasota and Manatee counties after four cases were detected – you should drain standing water to keep mosquitoes from multiplying and you should cover your skin with clothing or repellent and cover doors and windows:
- Drain water from garbage cans, gutters, pool covers, toys, flower pots or anywhere else where sprinkler and rain water have been collected
- Discard old tires, bottles, cans, pots, pans, broken appliances and other items not being used
- Empty and clean birdbaths and pet water bowls at least once or twice a week
- Protect boats and vehicles from rain with tarps
- Maintain swimming pools and keep them appropriately chlorinated
- Wear socks, shoes and long pants with long sleeves (especially when working in areas where mosquitoes are present)
- Apply mosquito repellent to bare skin and clothing
- Cover doors and windows with screens to keep mosquitoes out of your house
GUILIN, CHINA: A worker at Guilin Pharmaceutical, one of only two Chinese companies converting what was formerly considered wild grass herbs into raw material for treating malaria, 08 December 2004 in Guilin, in southern China's Guangxi province. Combined with another anti-malarial drug, the sweet wormwood's ingredients form a treatment called artemisinin-class combination therapy (ACT), which can cure patients within three days with few problems of drug resistance. The World Health Organization and other health agencies this year pushed for countries everywhere to use drugs made from sweet wormwood to treat the disease that strikes 300 million people each year, killing one million, mostly children. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN. (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) Anopheles stephensi mosquito feeding on a human host, droplet of blood expelled from the mosquito abdomen, close-up view, 2004. Image courtesy Centers for Disease Control (CDC) / Dr William Collins. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) TOPSHOT - A worker of Anglogold Ashanti Malaria Ltd sprays the walls of a house with insecticide against mosquitos on May 2, 2018 in Adansi Domeabra, near Obuasi, Ashanti Region. - The insecticide is a new resistant formula to try to control and prevent the malaria. (Photo by CRISTINA ALDEHUELA / AFP) (Photo by CRISTINA ALDEHUELA/AFP via Getty Images) KINTAMPO, GHANA - SEPTEMBER 18: A poster advising of malaria protection is hanged outside the hospital where many infected children are treated September 18, 2007 in the Kintampo Health Center in Ghana, Africa. Candidates for drugs or vaccines against malaria, TB and HIV are increasingly moving into clinical trials, and these trials are best held in regions where the diseases hit hardest. But it is complicated to monitor the testing of potential life-saving products when people have no home addresses, official means of identification, or even consistent spelling of family names. Fred Binka, a Ghanaian physician and epidemiologist who runs the INDEPTH Network, is developing systems that can make clinical trials more efficient across Africa. His organization works with community leaders to establish basic identification systems, such as numbering huts in a village or handing out laminated ID cards with photos. (Photo by Shaul Schwarz/Getty Images) PREY MONG KOL, CAMBODIA - JULY 18: Yonta ,6, rests with her sister Montra,3, and brother Leakhena, 4months under a mosquito bed net keeping dry from the monsoon rain July 18, 2010 in Prey Mong kol village in Pailin province. Part of the great success of controlling the malaria is due to the distribution by National Malaria center (CNM) and WHO of the long lasting mosquito nets that also contain the insecticide embedded into the net causing the insect to die upon contact. According to WHO, around 3,000 people from various villages have been tested so far in an area where resistance to artemisinin surfaced, which is the most effective ingredient vital to all anti-malarial drugs used throughout the world, especially in fighting the more lethal Falciparum malaria. The results are proving that the resistant malaria has almost disappeared from the area. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) Amina Dawd, 36, strokes one of her resting children's hair as two of her other children sleep under the protective bednets. The children sleeping without the net will still gain some protection from the repellant properties of the bednet. The Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLIN) help to repell bugs and prevent malaria, the country's biggest killer disease. (Photo by Louise Gubb/Corbis via Getty Images) Signs and symptoms of malaria
Symptoms of malaria include:
- Fever
- Shaking chills
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Tiredness
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
Malaria might also cause anemia and jaundice because of the loss of red blood cells.
If malaria goes untreated, it can become severe and may cause kidney failure, seizures, mental confusion, coma and death.
Malaria treatment: Is there a vaccine?
A health worker measures the dosage of malaria vaccine in Ndhiwa, Homabay County, western Kenya on September 13, 2019 during the launch of malaria vaccine in Kenya. - The vaccine (Mosquirix) is the world's first malaria vaccine that has been shown to …
Antimalarial drugs are available and should be taken early on. If you are sick or have recently traveled to an area with malaria, go see a doctor to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible.
Prescription drugs can also cure malaria.
In 2021, the World Health Organization recommenced the RTS,S malaria vaccine for broader use among children in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas with moderate to high malaria transmission. This marks the first vaccine for malaria.