Another case of rare “locally acquired” malaria, this one in the Washington, D.C. area, has been reported amid a string of such infections since May, officials said Friday.
The unidentified patient had not traveled recently outside the United States, the Maryland Department of Health said in a statement. The person was hospitalized and is recovering, it said.
Dr. David Blythe, director of the health department’s infectious disease division, said the patient was from the D.C. area and had gone to a hospital after experiencing fever and sweating, according to NBC Washington.
It’s been 40 years since Maryland has seen a case of locally acquired malaria, state Health Department Secretary Laura Herrera Scott said in the statement.
A case of “locally acquired” malaria was identified in a Maryland resident who lives in the Washington, D.C. area, the Maryland Department of Health said Friday, Aug. 18, 2023.Nechaev-kon / Getty Images/iStockphoto
More than 2,000 cases of malaria are reported each year in the United States, nearly all involving travelers who acquired the infection overseas.
Malaria, a mosquito-borne disease common in developing nations, was all but was considered eliminated from the United States by 1951.
Seven cases of locally acquired malaria in Florida and one in Texas have been