Where Does Malaria Occur?

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QUESTION

Where does malaria occur?

ANSWER

Malaria has at some stage or another occurred on every continent of the world except Antarctica. Currently, cases of human malaria are mainly found in Central and South America, parts of the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, parts of the Middle East, south Asia, south-east Asia, and the Pacific Islands of Oceania. Control efforts, mainly consisting of reducing populations of vector mosquitoes, has eliminated transmission from North America, most of Europe, most of North Africa and parts of the Middle east and Asia. Currently, the vast majority of malaria mortalities occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and mainly in children under the age of five.

Malaria Deaths in the Tropics

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QUESTION

What’s the difference of malaria deaths between the subtropical and tropical regions and all the other regions?

ANSWER

I am assuming you are asking about the distribution of deaths caused by malaria between the tropics/sub-tropics and the rest of the world.

95% percent of all fatal malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa, which lies entirely in the sub-tropics and tropics. Additionally, most of the deaths occur in Central, West and Eastern Africa (North Africa and South Africa have more advanced malaria prevention and control initiatives to the rest of the continent, and transmission is also less severe), and the other 5% of malaria deaths are mostly found in India and south-east Asia, so you could say that virtually all deaths due to malaria occur in tropical regions alone.

Indeed, there is almost no malaria in non-tropical or sub-tropical regions; the few cases each year in North America and Europe are usually due to imported cases from people who have traveled to tropical or sub-tropical regions.

Is there malaria in North America?

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QUESTION:

Are there malaria-infected mosquitoes in North America?

ANSWER:

North America is usually defined as including Canada, the United States and Mexico. Of these, Mexico has known regions of regular malaria transmission; specifically the regions bordering Guatemala and Belize in the south (Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Tabasco), rural areas in the tropical lowlands slightly further north (parts of Oaxaca, Nayarit and Sinaloa) and a very localised section of northern Mexico, located across the states of Chihuahua, Sonora and Durango. Travellers to these areas are recommended to take measures to prevent against malaria infection, such as minimising mosquito bites or taking prophylactic medication. Both P. falciparum and P. vivax are known to be transmitted in Mexico, so you should consult with a travel physician before deciding which form of preventative (prophylactic) medication to take, depending on the length of your stay, your budget and the type of malaria most commonly found in the area to which you are travelling.

Malaria was once also widespread in the southern USA, though a concerted public health campaign that started in 1947 (mainly consisting of reducing the number of mosquitoes through insecticide spraying and control of stagnant water bodies) greatly reduced transmission and led to the disease being considered eliminated by the 1950s. Occasionally, small pockets of transmission will be reported, though stringent diagnosis and treatment quickly places these outbreaks under control once more.

However, there are additional cases of malarial mosquitoes occasionally also reported even from northern parts of the United States and Canada; these are when mosquitoes are accidentally transported from malarial regions, for example in airplanes, in luggage or in shipping containers. These mosquitoes almost never transmit the disease to people, and in most temperate regions, do not live long enough to be a public health threat or to enable the persistance of the disease.