A case of locally acquired malaria has been reported in Arkansas, the state Department of Health says, bringing to 10 the number of cases in the US this year.
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The person, a Saline County resident, had not traveled out of the country. Five other malaria cases have been reported in Arkansas this year, the department said in a news release Wednesday, but all of those infections were acquired out of the country.
Malaria is spread through bites from the Anopheles mosquito. Most Americans who catch it do so overseas in areas where the disease is more common, such as in Africa. In the years before the Covid-19 pandemic, about 2,000 cases were reported annually in the US, mostly travel-related, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Seven cases of locally acquired malaria have been reported this year in Florida, one in Texas and one in Maryland.