A case of malaria has been confirmed in Arkansas, marking the first locally acquired case in the state in at least four decades.
The patient, whose name is being withheld, lives in Saline County and has not recently traveled out of the country.
The case makes Arkansas the fourth state to report a locally acquired case of the disease this year. Another sign that the disease is gaining a foothold in the US for the first time in two decades.
The patient was also the tenth to be infected on US soil this year, after seven locally acquired infections were discovered in Florida and one each in Texas and Maryland – with the first case discovered in May.
Arkansas has reported its first case of locally acquired malaria in at least 40 years (stock image)
Dr. Naveen Patil, the state’s deputy health officer, said this was the first time a local case of malaria had been detected in Arkansas since at least 1980.
He told the local news channel : ‘(It’s been) maybe 30 to 40 years since we did the research, we haven’t had a case of locally acquired malaria in our state.’
Arkansas has reported five other cases of malaria this year, but each was linked to travel outside the country.
The local health department is now capturing and testing local mosquitoes to determine where the local case could have originated.
They will then probably spray pesticides in areas where there are mosquitoes that transmit malaria.
Malaria cannot be transmitted from person to person, but mosquitoes can become infected when they bite a malaria patient – ??and then spread the disease when they bite another human.
Malaria has not been locally transmitted in the US since 2003, when an outbreak in Florida led to eight infections.
However, the disease still occurs sporadically, because the disease is brought in by travelers coming from abroad. In rare cases, the disease can also enter the local mosquito population and begin to spread.
This year, concerns arose after Florida discovered seven locally acquired cases in Sarasota County.
In Texas, a case was discovered in a 21-year-old security guard working along the state’s border with Mexico who said he was “eaten alive” by mosquitoes.
Christopher Shingler, who was stationed on the Rio Grande near Brownsville, said he woke up during the night shaking and experiencing fever and vomiting because of the infection.
In Maryland, a case was also diagnosed in a resident living in the state’s National Capital Region next to Washington DC
Malaria was eradicated in the US in the 1950s, but experts fear the disease could make a comeback due to international travel.
They warn that malaria-ridden mosquitoes could hitchhike to the US on boats or planes, or that patients infected abroad could AND bring the disease into the country.
In June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned doctors to be on the lookout for the disease – especially in patients with fever.
All of Florida was under a malaria warning earlier this year, including Sarasota County – where cases have been discovered – and neighboring Manatee County.
Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite that is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito.
Early warning signs of the disease include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, fatigue and nausea.
Without treatment, these can develop into complications such as anemia (a low red blood cell count) and organ failure, which can be fatal.
Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people worldwide every year, with 619,000 deaths recorded in 2021. With treatment, most cases are not fatal, but if they progress to a severe stage the disease almost always leads to death.
About 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year, but these are always linked to people traveling internationally to places like Africa and South and Central America.
About 300 of these patients develop serious illness each year, and five to 10 patients die from their infections.
It comes after the World Health Organization gave the green light for the first time to a new and more effective vaccine against malaria.
Made by the University of Oxford, it is the second shot approved for use after another was approved in 2021.