5 malaria cases in Florida and Texas were acquired locally, CDC warns

Anopheles mosquitoes, like the one pictured, can carry and spread malaria-causing parasites to humans.  (Image credit: Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor via Getty Images)

The mosquito-borne illness malaria has sickened five U.S. residents with no recent travel history, meaning they caught the disease locally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned Monday (June 26). 

Before these cases, locally acquired mosquito-borne malaria had not been reported in the U.S. for 20 years, since 2003 when eight people in Palm Beach County, Florida caught the disease, according to the CDC health advisory.