Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
For First Time Since 2003, Malaria Is Spreading In US
Malaria has spread from mosquitoes to humans inside the US for the first time in 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned. Four cases of mosquito-transmitted聽Plasmodium vivax聽 malaria have been reported in Florida within the last two months, and聽a single case was also found in Texas. All patients were said to be improving after receiving treatment. The CDC said in a聽health advisory that聽Anopheles mosquitoes, which are found throughout many regions of the country, 鈥渁re capable of transmitting malaria if they feed on a malaria-infected person.鈥 However, it stressed, the risk of catching聽malaria in the US is 鈥渆xtremely low.鈥 (Millson, 6/27)
More on mosquitoes and West Nile virus 鈥
The first West Nile virus human case in South Dakota has been reported in Sanborn County. No West Nile virus positive mosquito pools have been detected at this time. Last year, 2022, there were 35 WNV fever cases, 36 neuroinvasive cases, 27 hospitalizations, 2 deaths, and 13 positive blood donors reported in South Dakota residents. (Dodge, 6/26)
Most people who get infected never know it or recover after just a bad fever, nasty headache and other symptoms. But about 1 out of 150 people who get the virus develop serious complications. West Nile virus can affect the nervous system and can cause encephalitis or swelling of the brain. It can also cause meningitis, which refers to swelling of the fluid and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Both can cause permanent paralysis and even death. (Fortier, 6/23)
Although the research is in early stages, the scientists hope that learning more about 鈥渢he sensory biology of how mosquitoes track and hunt humans鈥 could lead to better mosquito lures and repellents and, ultimately, new strategies for tackling malaria, said Dr. Conor McMeniman, a vector biologist at Johns Hopkins University. (Anthes, 6/25)
On the heat wave scorching the South 鈥
Parts of Texas have been roasting for more than two weeks and flirting with the state鈥檚 record high temperature, and now, temperatures could get even hotter and expand to other areas across the South. 鈥淢any areas outside south and south-central Texas (will) experience their most significant heat of the season thus far,鈥 the Weather Prediction Center said on Friday. More than 90 record high temperatures could be broken this week from Texas to Missouri to Florida, with the majority of those occurring Wednesday through Friday. (Gray, 6/26)
