Summary: CDC is collaborating with two state health departments on an investigation of six locally acquired cases of Plasmodium vivax malaria in Sarasota County, FL and one case in Cameron County, TX. There is no evidence to suggest that the cases in the two states are related. All patients were promptly treated at area hospitals and are recovering.
Most malaria cases diagnosed in the United States are imported, usually by persons who travel to countries where malaria is endemic. However, locally acquired mosquito-transmitted malaria cases can occur, as Anopheles mosquito vectors exist throughout the United States. In 2003, for example, there were 8 cases of locally acquired P. vivax malaria identified in Palm Beach County, FL.
Note: These vivax cases were travel related, but the source of the initial infection was not indicated. Possibilities include tourists visiting malaria endemic countries or immigrants with active parasitemia or relapsed chronic liver infections. The last outbreak of locally transmitted malaria in California occurred among farm workers in San Diego County during 1988 with Anopheles hermsi as the reputed vector
[https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00001559.htm]. These events serve to remind us that we have vectors of travel related pathogens other than invasive Aedes.
[Submitted by the Vector and Vector-borne Disease committee]