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Four things to know about malaria cases in the United States

The risk of local transmission in the United States remains extremely low

A close up photo of a mosquito resting on a person's finger.

Anopheles freeborni (pictured) is one of many mosquitoes in the United States capable of transmitting malaria from person to person.

James Gathany/CDC

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

For the first time in 20 years, five people have picked up malaria on U.S. soil.

On June 26, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory, announcing that over the last two months four people in Sarasota County, Fla, and one person in Cameron County, Texas, had developed the mosquito-borne illness.