Florida county reports its 7th case of locally contracted malaria

Officials say a seventh case of malaria has been documented in a southwest Florida county. The Florida Department of Health reported a new locally acquired case of malaria in Sarasota County during the week of July 9-15. That’s in addition to five cases last month and one case in May. Sarasota County, along with Manatee County directly to the north, has been under a mosquito-borne illness alert for nearly a month. Sarasota County officials have been been using aircraft, trucks and ground crews to apply insecticide where malaria cases have been reported. Mosquito control workers are trapping the insects for evaluation by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.