Although locally acquired malaria cases were recently discovered in the United States for the first time in 20 years, infectious disease experts say they do not signal imminent danger but instead are an indicator that the number of cases of diseases transmitted by mosquitoes to humans will likely increase in the coming decades.
“It’s a warning sign for ensuring that there are good public health interventions in place, good mosquito surveillance in place, and that people are just aware that this could be a growing problem,” said Jackie Cook, associate professor of malaria epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
