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Malaria cases are on the rise in many South American countries. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least five people in the United States have had malaria in the past two months. New cases of malaria are caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite, which does not cause severe disease compared to other species. Health experts have advised everyone to take extra precautions.
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Now the question is that malaria cases are very common in India. Then why is there so much concern after five cases have been reported in America? The United States eradicated malaria two decades ago. According to the CDC, before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were about 2,000 cases of malaria reported each year in the United States, almost all of which occurred in people who contracted the disease abroad.
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This time all these five cases were locally transmitted and none of the patients had a travel history. On the other hand, if we talk about India, then cases of malaria are seen more here. In 2022, more than 45,000 cases of malaria were reported in India, while in 2021 the disease was confirmed in about 1.6 people.
