CDC: US Sees Most Malaria Cases Since 1971

In 2011, the number of malaria cases documented in the US was the highest in 40 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday, reporting a 14 percent increase over the 2010 study period.

Almost all of the 1,925 cases reported in 2011 were acquired overseas, but the figure - which included five deaths - is the largest number of malaria cases in the US since 1971, when the CDC was notified of 3,180 cases.

"Malaria isn't something many doctors see frequently in the United States thanks to successful malaria elimination efforts in the 1940s," said CDC Director Tom Frieden. "The increase in malaria cases reminds us that Americans remain vulnerable and must be vigilant against diseases like malaria because our world is so interconnected by travel."

The increase in malaria cases also came with a greater presence of severe cases, MedPage Today reported, noting there were nearly 100 more severe malaria cases reported in 2011 than 2010.

Sixty-nine percent of the US malaria cases were imported from Africa, the CDC said, adding that of the African-origin cases, two-thirds originated in West Africa. While Africa as a whole was the origin of most of the documented cases of malaria in the US, the single country with the most malaria export was India, the CDC said.

The health agency said the increase in reported cases is likely due to there being more travel by Americans to malarial regions of the world, coupled with inadequate inoculations against the disease.

"Malaria is preventable. In most cases, these illnesses and deaths could have been avoided by taking recommended precautions," said Laurence Slutsker, director of CDC's Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. "We have made great strides in preventing and controlling malaria around the world. However, malaria persists in many areas and the use of appropriate prevention measures by travelers is still very important."

A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that malaria, which once thrived in the American South, was virtually eliminated from the country by targeted public health interventions and investment in public health infrastructure, rather than by people simply vacating the swampy areas where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are present.

"We found that targeted public health interventions, supported by the federally backed development of state and local public health infrastructure, led to the decline of malaria despite widespread and deep-seated poverty" in the American South, said Daniel Sledge, assistant professor of political science at University of Texas, Arlington, who led the study.