June 26 (UPI) -- Health officials have recently detected five malaria cases in the United States, marking the first locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria to be diagnosed in the country in two decades.
The handful of cases has prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue a warning to health officials and the public about the disease.
Federal health officials warn there could be a rise in imported malaria cases this summer linked to increased international travel and the need for rapid access to IV artesunate, the first-line treatment for severe malaria in the country.
Four of the locally acquired cases of the potentially fatal disease were detected in Sarasota County, Fla. The Florida Department of Health announced the cases in a statement Monday. The fifth case was detected in Cameron County, Texas, its health department said.
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All patients have received treatment and are improving, according to federal officials who said that active surveillance for additional cases in both states is ongoing.
The CDC said this is the first time locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria has been detected in the United States since eight cases were identified in Palm Beach County, Fla., in 2003. Texas' most recent case occurred in 1994, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
The federal health agency is instructing clinicians working in areas where the cases were diagnosed to follow state guidance and reminding them that prompt diagnosis and treatment of those with the disease can prevent death and limit transmission to others.
Malaria, a potentially fatal disease transmitted by infected female anopheline mosquitos, is preventable. Malaria can cause of serious illness and death worldwide, including in the United States where a campaign launched following the end of the second world war resulted in malaria no longer being a significant public health problem in 1949, according to the CDC's website.
Federal officials state that there are 2,000 cases of malaria diagnosed in the United States each year but are diagnosed in travelers and immigrants returning from countries where malaria transmission occurs.
Between 1963 and 2012, a total of 97 cases were also reported to the CDC that were linked to blood transfusions, it said.
The CDC is informing the public that despite the diagnosis of the recent cases, the risk of contracting locally acquired malaria remains "extremely low" in the United States, though the risk is higher in areas where local climatic conditions allow the anopheles mosquito to survive during most of the year.
