Malaria Prevention in Florida is Achievable in 2023

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today announced an Emergency Preparedness and Response COCA Call on July 20, 2023, where participants will learn how to prevent, diagnose, and treat malaria.

And how the biology of the pathogen contributes to the clinical management of the disease,

And how CDC and state and local health departments respond to the locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria cases in Florida and Texas.

Previously, the CDC issued a Health Alert Network Health Advisory on June 26, 2023, to share information on the recent identification of locally acquired, mosquito-transmitted malaria cases (P. vivax) in Florida and Texas.

Although these are the first documented instances of locally transmitted malaria in the U.S. since 2003, approximately 2,000 malaria cases are diagnosed and treated in the U.S. each year.

Malaria cases are primarily confirmed in individuals returning from travel to malaria-endemic countries such as Brazil and Cuba.

These malaria infections present a potential risk of subsequent transmission domestically since  Anopheles mosquitoes, capable of transmitting malaria, are broadly distributed across the United States.

For example, locally-infected and travel-related malaria cases in Florida were confirmed in July 2023.

During this COCA call on July 20, 2023, at 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET, at Webinar Link:  https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1618112526, will learn CDC and state and local health departments are responding to the locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria cases in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the U.S. government has not approved a malaria-prevention vaccine as of July 18, 2023.