"A Texas resident who spent time working outdoors in Cameron County was recently diagnosed with malaria," according to a health advisory issued Friday by t​he Texas Department of State Health Services. "DSHS has been working with local health departments to follow up on the case and determine whether other people may have been exposed. So far, no other locally acquired malaria cases have been identified in Texas."

T​he Florida cases were reported May 26 and June 19 by the health departments in Sarasota and Manatee Counties.

H​ow Rare Is Locally Acquired Malaria?

M​alaria is so unusual in the U.S. that it's considered an eradicated disease. When there are cases, it's almost always related to international travel.

B​ut the health departments in Florida and Texas said the three recent cases came from local mosquito bites.

T​he last case of locally acquired malaria in Texas was in 1994, according to the health advisory.

O​f 488 cases of malaria reported in Florida over the past decade, one other case besides the two recent ones are confirmed to have been contracted locally, according to state records.

H​ow Does Malaria Spread?

M​alaria is transmitted by certain species of female anopheles mosquitoes, which are present throughout most of the continental United States. But the disease is widely influenced by weather.

"Where malaria is found depends mainly on climatic factors such as temperature, humidity, and rainfall," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.

B​ut scientists warn that a changing climate could push mosquito-borne diseases into new areas and increase their prevalence in places where they already exist.

Globally, the most recent numbers from the World Health Organization estimate that about 247 million people in 85 countries contracted malaria and 619,000 died in 2021. Children under the age of 5 are among the groups most vulnerable.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is partnering with mosquito engineering company Oxitec to develop a male mosquito designed to kill off future generations of malaria-transmitting bugs.[...]

Oxitec is hoping to try out some of its other lab-made mosquitoes in the Florida Keys this summer, even though residents have in the past voiced fierce opposition to the idea.

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