Important Updates on Locally Acquired Malaria Cases Identified in Florida, Texas, and Maryland [August 28, 2023, 2:15 PM ET]

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.). Health Alert Network (HAN)
• Description:
  August 28, 2023, 2:15 PM ET
  
  CDCHAN-00496
  
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is issuing this Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Update to share new information with clinicians, public health authorities, and the public about locally acquired malaria cases identified in the United States. On August 18, 2023, a single case of locally acquired malaria was reported in Maryland in the National Capital Region. This case was caused by the Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) species and is unrelated to the cases involving local transmission of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) malaria in Florida and Texas described in the HAN Health Advisory 494 issued on June 26, 2023. As an update to that report, to date, Florida has identified seven cases and Texas has identified one case of locally acquired P. vivax malaria, but there have been no reports of local transmission of malaria in Florida or Texas since mid-July 2023.
  
  P. falciparum malaria can rapidly cause severe illness and even death if not quickly diagnosed, therefore rapid diagnosis and treatment is imperative. In addition to routinely considering malaria as a cause of febrile illness among patients with a history of international travel to areas where malaria is transmitted, clinicians should consider a malaria diagnosis in any person with an unexplained cause of fever, regardless of their travel history. The risk to the U.S. public for locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria remains very low. The most effective way to prevent malaria in the United States is for travelers to malaria-endemic areas to take appropriate steps to prevent acquiring malaria while traveling—including taking medications to prevent malaria—and ensuring early diagnosis and treatment of imported cases of malaria and preventing mosquito bites.
  
  
• Content Notes:
  Notice of Possible Alert Expiration: The CDC Health Alert, Advisory, Update, and Info Service announcements, distributed by the Health Alert Network (HAN), were active on the date they were originally published. Publication dates have been added to Titles for clarity. A CDC Health Alert, Advisory, Update, and Info Service announcement may expire at any time. They may also be updated or superseded according to later developments. None of the CDC Health Alert, Advisory, Update, or Info Service announcements in the Stacks HAN Collection should be assumed to be current or active. Stacks preserves HAN announcements in order to maintain a record of past CDC actions. Stacks in not designed for up-to-the-minute notifications. For the list of current CDC Health Alert, Advisory, Update, or Info Service announcements, patrons should visit the Health Alert Network (HAN) webpage at https://www.cdc.gov/han/php/about/index.html. For up to the minute reports, subscribe to the HAN email alert system hosted by CDC News & Updates at https://tools.cdc.gov/campaignproxyservice/subscriptions.aspx?topic_id=USCDC_486
  
  Categories of Health Alert Network (HAN) messages:
  
  Health Alert: Requires immediate action or attention, highest level of importance.
  
  Health Advisory: May not require immediate action; provides important information for a specific incident or situation.
  
  Health Update: Unlikely to require immediate action; provides updated information regarding an incident or situation.
  
  HAN Info Service: Does not require immediate action; provides general public health information.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Malaria
• Keywords:
  HAN Health Alert Network
• Source:
  HAN ; 496
• Series:
  Health Alert Network
• Subseries:
  CDC Health Update
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Alert
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Maryland ; Texas
• Rights:
  Public Domain
• Issue:
  00496
• Collection(s):
  Health Alert Network (HAN)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:313f1729684f6fbb9d11ab2153c5bb307c342ef8b16af66217a3f7a621da4242103deca3db3d527decfc287b2cf91c6ae13506d1e3d408e058c3b6bab6169440
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/132415/cdc_132415_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 201.46 KB ]