The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning this week that malaria could be reestablished in the United States.
“The United States remains susceptible to malaria reintroduction because of the continued importation of malaria cases and the continuous presence of competent mosquito vectors,” the agency said.
According to its report, “Local mosquitoes capable of transmission could bite someone who acquired malaria parasites outside of the United States and spread it to persons who have not traveled.” The report adds, “Local transmission of malaria in the United States is a significant public health concern because the majority of U.S. residents lack protective immunity against malaria, rendering persons susceptible to severe illness and death if infected. Mosquitoes capable of transmitting malaria are present across most of the United States.”
In 2023, malaria was found in the United States for the first time in two decades. The nation eliminated malaria transmission as a public health threat in the 1950s.
Meanwhile, in 2025, researchers at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, provided with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, developed a controversial method to deliver malaria vaccines using genetically modified mosquitoes, American Faith reported. The insects, called “flying vaccinators,” were engineered to deliver vaccine components via their bites. The modified parasites, named GA1 and GA2, were introduced into mosquitoes, which then vaccinated human participants by biting them in a controlled environment.
The trial involved 43 healthy adults aged 19 to 35 with no prior malaria exposure. Participants were divided into three groups: one received bites from mosquitoes carrying the GA2 parasite, another from mosquitoes carrying the GA1 parasite, and a placebo group received bites from uninfected mosquitoes. Each participant underwent three sessions of 50 mosquito bites at 28-day intervals.
