Malaria, a severe and potentially fatal disease most often caused by the bite of an infected mosquito, has been reported in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a health advisory because there have been instances of people getting infected with Plasmodium vivax malaria in Florida and Texas, even though they hadn't traveled outside the country. Malaria does not spread from person to person.
"Malaria is caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium, that are usually injected into people through the bite of a mosquito," says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Pritt says most people become infected with Plasmodium parasites through the bite of an infected Anopheles species mosquito.
