Category: Malaria
Cameroon starts world-first malaria mass vaccine rollout
BBC Video The world’s first routine vaccine programme against malaria has started in Cameroon, in a move projected to save thousands of children’s lives across Africa. The symbolic first jab was given to a baby girl named Daniella at a health facility near Yaoundé on Monday. Every year 600,000 people die of malaria in Africa, […]
Jan 23, 2024
Malaria: Big city mosquitoes are a big problem — and now a big target
NPR Goats & Soda About a decade ago, a new kind of mosquito began showing up in African cities. Native to Asia, Anopheles stephensi prefers crowded urban environments over rural ones. That spelled trouble: These mosquitoes transmit malaria. It’s especially bad news for Africa where more than 93% of the world’s quarter-billion malaria cases were identified last year. “The […]
Dec 5, 2023
Scientists at Johns Hopkins research malaria transmission following a positive case in Maryland
CBS News A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins Hospital are leading research efforts behind malaria transmission. Maryland health leaders earlier this month reported a resident tested positive for malaria despite not traveling outside of the United States or to another state with recent malaria cases. It’s the first case of malaria of that kind in decades. […]
Aug 29, 2023
Where are the mosquitoes that spread malaria in the U.S.? Officials aren’t sure
NBC News The U.S. does not routinely track mosquitoes that spread malaria “because we haven’t been worried about them,” one expert said. Concerns over the insects, however, are growing. A ninth case of malaria diagnosed in a person who had not traveled out of the U.S. has experts on alert — and calling for more […]
Aug 22, 2023
New malaria case in Florida brings national total to 8, the first U.S. acquired cases in 20 years
NBC News Florida health officials reported a new case of malaria on Tuesday, bringing the total number of locally acquired malaria infections in the U.S. to eight since May. The cases are the first in 20 years to be acquired in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that locally acquired infections — those not linked […]
Jul 18, 2023
Should We Be Worried about a Malaria Outbreak in the United States?
Boston University Malaria has landed in Florida and Texas. BU infectious diseases specialist David Hamer shares his biggest worries when it comes to mosquito-borne diseases—and why malaria might not be the scariest one. When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) started operations in 1946, it had an urgent mission: prevent malaria from spreading […]
Jul 18, 2023
As Sarasota’s malaria case count increases, we talked with researchers about what’s next
Herald Tribune Sarasota County’s outbreak of locally acquired malaria is two cases away from matching the total reported in the last outbreak of the insect-borne disease in the U.S. In 2003, eight cases of malaria were confirmed in Palm Beach County, with seven of those coming in the months of July and August. Sarasota County’s […]
Jul 11, 2023
In the U.S., the world’s deadliest animal is on the move
Washington Post The deadliest animal in the world is smaller than a pencil eraser and weighs around two-thousandths of a gram — less than the weight of a single raindrop. Every year, it kills an estimated 700,000 people by partaking in what scientists grimly call a “blood meal.” It’s the mosquito — and, increasingly, it’s on the […]
Jul 5, 2023
What could cause a malaria comeback in the US — and what could stop it
Vox Americans shouldn’t take a malaria-free future for granted. Over the last month, five people in the US (four in Florida and one in Texas) have acquired malaria within the country’s borders. That’s pretty uncommon — at least, in this century; until the 1950s, malaria was a persistent plague in the US, especially in the Southeast. Many […]
Jul 5, 2023
What we do — and don’t yet — know about the malaria cases in the U.S.
NPR In the 1950s, the U.S. declared that it had wiped out malaria. As NPR reported a few years ago, this public health milestone was achieved “through the use of insecticides, drainage ditches and the incredible power of window screens.” This week, headlines trumpeted the “return” of malaria: four cases in Florida and one in Texas. So […]
Jul 5, 2023