Anopheles stephensi, which can carry the malaria parasite.”/> An Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, which can carry malaria parasites. CDC
A seventh person has been diagnosed with malaria in Florida in Sarasota County, State health officials said this week.
A rare disease it is now the third month since authorities in the Sunshine State reported the first case in May. After Florida identified four cases at the end of June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert to doctors calling the local malaria outbreak in the US a “public health emergency.”
The Florida outbreak is one unrelated case in Texas since June along with the first time in twenty years that the US has seen an outbreak of malaria in the area, which, if not treated, can be fatal. Finally, in 2003, Florida authorities reported at least seven suicides in Palm Beach.
The US typically sees about 2,000 cases of malaria each year, often in people who have recently moved from areas where the disease is spread by mosquitoes. These infections are rare but often mild. The mosquito that spreads malaria, in Anopheles Kind, they usually bite in the evening and at night. Shipping is greatly hindered by people who have checked windows and air conditioning. Therefore, epidemics in the US tend to disappear.
But, Florida’s outbreak appears to be more difficult to resolve. Sarasota’s location is down mosquito-borne disease warning from June 19. In the last week of June, the region reported two new cases, bringing the total to six. In the first week of July, there were no new cases, giving hope that the use of pesticides on airplanes, vehicles, and workers stopped the spread of the virus. But, this week, authorities discovered another crime.
According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, authorities began investigating a new case last Thursday, and testing by the CDC has confirmed that he has the virus. So far, all of the cases have been in the Desoto Acres and Kensington Park areas of northern Sarasota County, according to Wade Brennan, manager of Sarasota County Mosquito Management Services. Brennan told reporters Tuesday night, “We still need everyone to be proactive about avoiding mosquito bites.”
Mosquito control officials have been trapping mosquitoes and sending them to the CDC for testing. Of the 130 tested so far, Three mosquitoes have been positive to the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, but they were all from the beginning of the epidemic. No mosquitoes have been found to be infected since June 5, officials said.
P. vivax causes less fever than others Plasmodium colors, yes P. falciparum, a highly contagious disease that is widespread in some African countries. However, P. vivax they are known to lie dormant in the liver, leading to chronic and recurrent disease if left untreated. Infected people are often given a few days of antimalarials to kill the virus in the blood, followed by a longer course to kill the virus in the liver.
Dr. Manuel Gordillo, an infectious disease specialist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, told NBC News. some local cases required extensive treatment.
“Some of them are dehydrated. They have low blood levels, especially platelets, which puts them at risk of bleeding. “Some of them have kidney problems, which is one of the complications of malaria,” said Gordillo.
State health officials did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for details on the cases and how the outbreak has spread.