In late June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared a notice about health concerns. They said that they had found five cases of malaria in the United States.
Four people were in Florida and one person was in Texas. None of the cases were caused by traveling to other countries.
Malaria is a very serious sickness caused by a mosquito bite. The symptoms can be a high body temperature, throwing up, having bloody poop, and being weak because of not enough red blood cells. If it’s not treated, it can be very dangerous for your life.
Approximately 5 individuals pass away in the United States annually due to malaria. By contrast, around 594,240 people in Africa lost their lives to malaria in 2021, making up 96% of global fatalities.
After the recent group of cases in the southern United States, here is some information about malaria vaccines.
How a malaria vaccine works
Currently, there is no malaria vaccine in the United States and there isn’t expected to be one in the near future.
Only one vaccine is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for malaria, called RTS,S/AS0. This vaccine is made for and can be obtained by children in Sub-Saharan African countries where malaria is widespread among infants and causes many deaths.
RTS, S/AS01 is made to safeguard against Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria parasite that causes the most severe type of malaria and can lead to death. This was stated by Dr. Sherrill Brown, the medical director of infection prevention at AltaMed Health Services.
“The vaccine has a part of the malaria parasite that starts the production of antibodies in people who get the vaccine,” Brown explained to Healthline.
“Those antibodies can then attack and neutralize the malaria parasite that gets into the body before it infects the liver and causes severe infection,” she added.
Why there isn’t a malaria vaccine in the United States
Why isn’t the vaccine ready for use in the United States?
Dr. Eyal Lesham, who is a professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at Tel Aviv University in Israel, and the director of the Centre for Travel Medicine and Tropical Diseases at Sheba Medical Centre, mentioned that the risk of getting malaria in the United States is not very high. Therefore, there is no need for widespread immunization against malaria on U.S. soil.
“It is really country-specific or region-specific, whether or not to use a malaria vaccine. The risk for contracting and developing severe disease and dying of malaria is substantially lower in other regions around the world,” he told Healthline.
When it comes to vaccinations, health experts focus on immunizing against diseases and illnesses that are more prevalent in certain regions.
Lesham pointed out that, unlike individuals in Africa, those in the United States who contract malaria have the advantage of having swift access to a well-equipped emergency room for testing and treatment.
DoctorPanie 
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