Malaria detected in the southern US for first time in 20 years

the U.S Centers for Disease Control has issued a nationwide alert after five cases of malaria were reported in two states over the last two months each year particularly before covid we saw that all the pieces of malaria in the United States each year but that was from people who were traveling abroad and acquired it internationally what is different this time and why we put out the

health notice to doctors and to the public as we had five cases of domestically acquired malaria meaning people got it from in the United States four in Florida and one in Texas all of the patients are recovering after receiving medical attention and so far there's no indication that the cases are linked malaria is caused by parasites carried by certain female mosquitoes symptoms include fever chills headache

muscle pain and fatigue it can also cause kidney failure seizures and coma the disease is most common in warm countries especially those with tropical climates there were more than 600 000 deaths globally in 2021 but officially malaria was eradicated in the United States in 1970. it is a little alarming to have a disease that we've eliminated United States but they are a few cases and I

think that public health measures are really important for both tracking where the malaria is and then therefore making any interventions like trying to prevent more mosquito bites either by decreasing the mosquito population or asking everyone to wear mosquito repellent like these are all things that can prevent ongoing transmission the U.S sellers for Disease Control stresses that the risk of malaria remains low in the United States

but there are fears that the record heat waves and storms that have been spawned by climate change are creating the conditions for malaria carrying mosquitoes to breed and survive in areas where they previously could not sherbertansi Al Jazeera