Where did Pierce County malaria case originate? History points elsewhere
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Pierce County woman diagnosed with malaria despite no recent travel history.
- CDC links nine 2023 U.S. cases to international origins via genetic testing.
- USAID shutdown and CDC cuts threaten future global malaria prevention efforts.
There’s one key question arising from news of a Pierce County woman contracting malaria: Where did the initial infection come from?
State and local health officials, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are investigating the source of the latest reported illness.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department on Wednesday announced that an East Pierce County woman who had not traveled recently was diagnosed with the disease on Aug. 2.
If confirmed that the woman was infected with malaria in Washington, it could represent the first known locally acquired case in the state.
Roberto Bonaccorso, a media representative for the state’s Department of Health, told The News Tribune in response to questions, “In Washington, between 20-70 malaria cases are reported each year, all historically associated with exposures in areas with ongoing transmission outside the United States.”
Historically, no locally acquired cases of malaria have been reported in Washington, he added.
Last month, the CDC reported that nine locally acquired cases across Florida, Texas and Arkansas reported in 2023 likely had international origins. A potential scenario is the original infection occurred to someone who had traveled outside the United States and was passed on by a mosquito to someone else in the United States who had not traveled out of the country.
“Genetic testing indicated multiple introductions, likely from Central and South America,” according to the CDC. Those locally acquired cases were the first of their kind in the United States in 20 years.
“CDC learned that the seven malaria cases in Florida were closely related. The single case in Texas and single case in Arkansas were unique from each other and from the cases in Florida. This suggests the outbreak in 2023 was the result of at least three separate introductions of malaria in the United States,” the report stated.
It also noted that there are “roughly 2,000 cases of imported malaria every year in the United States.”
A report from the American Society for Microbiology published in 2023 noted that malaria was considered eradicated in the United States by 1951 after aggressive control measures through use of insecticides and improved drainage, particularly of swamps, among other elements.
The report added that “successful control and prevention of malaria has always been affected by funding constraints,” among other issues.
Global malaria-fighting efforts were affected most recently by, among other things, the shutdown earlier this year of USAID, which was “the main government implementing agency for malaria efforts,” according to a July 23 report from nonprofit KFF (formerly known as Kaiser Family Foundation), an independent source of health policy research.
“The administration’s (fiscal year) 2026 budget request includes $424 million for malaria, a decrease of $381 million (final appropriation levels are determined by Congress),” the report stated.
Meanwhile, the website for the President’s Malaria Initiative, established in 2005 to scale up efforts in the hardest-hit African countries and supported by USAID, is offline.
A note on the website states, “In order to be consistent with the President’s Executive Orders, this website is currently undergoing maintenance as we expeditiously and thoroughly review all of the content.”
The KFF report stated that “Without USAID and most of its staff, PMI’s implementation capacity has been affected. In addition, recent announcements of reductions at CDC could further affect global malaria efforts.”
