Notes from the Field: Locally Acquired Mosquito-Transmitted (Autochthonous) Plasmodium falciparum Malaria — National Capital Region, Maryland, August 2023 Weekly / October 13, 2023 / 72(41);1123–1125

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7241a3.htm?s_cid=mm7241a3_w&utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=278149414&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_z8-73fAvJcobOuIZrHUVN0y60Lzw8l2H4PxMWg9GrZDNhuJSqufswNOF2aPauOR9rWqDCaPt7Qq-wbAdedApBZg9BLw&utm_content=278149414&utm_source=hs_email A new report from the CDC and public health officials in Maryland underscores the difficulty of detecting and diagnosing rare malaria cases acquired in the U.S., STAT's Helen Branswell tells us. A person in Maryland with no history of travel outside the country contracted malaria this past summer. After a week of fever, muscle pain, and malaise, blood tests showed reduced red blood cells and platelets and other signs that could have been caused by malaria. But because the person had recently been bitten by a tick, the assumption was made the illness was babesiosis, from a tick-borne parasite found in parts of the country. The malaria diagnosis was arrived at only after additional lab testing in the state and at CDC. It’s unclear how the individual was infected. While eight cases of U.S.-acquired malaria were detected in Florida and Texas this year, those individuals lived near someone who contracted malaria out of the country, which could explain how local mosquitoes acquired and transmitted the parasite. The article suggested more awareness of and better testing for home-grown malaria will be needed to detect such cases in future. https://www.statnews.com/2023/06/30/malaria-florida-texas-public-health-mosquitoes-alerts/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=278149414&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--gUHhGROXD8Qo4MjxNFjXd7yPh__2xRPfXKOExe3jIZFZeiLD1UE622H80az4hiXI6BybdRtTnLhHAsi5Hhx45hLY5Bw&utm_content=278149414&utm_source=hs_email