CDC alerts clinicians to first locally acquired malaria cases since 2003

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating four locally acquired malaria cases in Florida and one in Texas, the first locally acquired U.S. cases since 2003. While the risk of locally acquired malaria remains extremely low, CDC said clinicians should consider a malaria diagnosis in any person with a fever of unknown origin and immediately report suspected or confirmed locally acquired malaria to their public health department. The agency recommends rapid diagnosis and treatment to prevent severe disease or death and limit transmission to local mosquitos, and said hospitals and laboratories should stock malaria diagnostic tests and intravenous artesunate, the first-line U.S. treatment for severe malaria.