Maryland health officials have reported a case of locally acquired malaria in a resident who lives in the D.C. area, who was hospitalized with the mosquito-borne illness and is now recovering.
The person did not recently travel outside the U.S. or to another state reporting any locally acquired malaria cases, according to a news release Friday from the Maryland Department of Health.
“Malaria was once common in the United States, including in Maryland, but we have not seen a case in Maryland that was not related to travel in over 40 years,” said Maryland Department of Health Secretary Laura Herrera Scott, in a statement. “We are taking this very seriously and will work with local and federal health officials to investigate this case.”
Maryland typically sees about 200 malaria cases each year tied to international travel, according to state health officials. Across the U.S., more than 2,000 cases of malaria are reported each year in the U.S. with the vast majority tied to travel outside the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During a virtual news conference Friday, health officials said the locally acquired malaria case is “very rare,” but that they haven’t seen any other cases linked to this one.
“We’re hoping that we won’t see any ongoing transmission of this,” said Dr. David Blythe, director of the Maryland Department of Health Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Outbreak Response. “And we haven’t seen any indication of that. But we’re on the lookout for that, and we want to give people information about what they can do … if they’re concerned.”
The patient who was hospitalized is now home and recovering, Blythe told reporters. The patient was infected sometime over the last week, and testing was confirmed positive for malaria by the CDC Friday afternoon, Blythe said.
Citing patient confidentiality, officials did not provide any other details about the patient. They said the patient lives in the National Capital Region, which is made up of Charles, Prince George’s, Montgomery and Frederick counties.
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. Symptoms usually appear seven to 30 days after a bite from an infected mosquito and can include high fever, chills, body aches, diarrhea and vomiting.
