People from countries with no malaria can become infected when they travel to countries with malaria or through a blood transfusion (although this is very rare). Most cases occur in people who live in countries with malaria transmission.

Top of Page Who Is at Risk Who is at risk for malaria?Īnyone can get malaria. You cannot get malaria from casual contact with malaria-infected people, such as sitting next to someone who has malaria. Malaria is not spread from person to person like a cold or the flu, and it cannot be sexually transmitted. Malaria may also be transmitted from a mother to her unborn infant before or during delivery (“congenital” malaria). About 1 week later, when the mosquito takes its next blood meal, these parasites mix with the mosquito’s saliva and are injected into the person being bitten.īecause the malaria parasite is found in red blood cells of an infected person, malaria can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or the shared use of needles or syringes contaminated with blood. When a mosquito bites an infected person, a small amount of blood is taken in which contains microscopic malaria parasites. Only Anopheles mosquitoes can transmit malaria and they must have been infected through a previous blood meal taken from an infected person. Usually, people get malaria by being bitten by an infective female Anopheles mosquito. Top of Page How People Get Malaria (Transmission) How is malaria transmitted?

Since many countries with malaria are already among the poorer nations, the disease maintains a vicious cycle of disease and poverty. Because malaria causes so much illness and death, the disease is a great drain on many national economies. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that in 2020, 241 million clinical cases of malaria occurred, and 627,000 people died of malaria, most of them children in Africa. The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from parts of the world where malaria transmission occurs, including sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Although malaria can be a deadly disease, illness and death from malaria can usually be prevented.Ībout 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. falciparum is the type of malaria that is most likely to result in severe infections and if not promptly treated, may lead to death. knowlesi, a type of malaria that naturally infects macaques in Southeast Asia, also infects humans, causing malaria that is transmitted from animal to human (“zoonotic” malaria). Four kinds of malaria parasites infect humans: Plasmodium falciparum, P. People who get malaria are typically very sick with high fevers, shaking chills, and flu-like illness. Malaria is a serious and sometimes fatal disease caused by a parasite that commonly infects a certain type of mosquito which feeds on humans.

After Returning from an Area where Malaria Transmission Occurs.Pregnancy, Preconception and Breastfeeding.

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