Global Courant
Stationed near the Texas-Mexico border as part of the National Guard, Christopher Shingler first noticed a fever, difficulty eating and vomiting in May.
Medics had the 21-year-old tested for Covid-19, and at a hospital, the Brazoria County resident was told he likely had a viral infection.
In early June, after symptoms persisted, tests at another hospital made it official: Shingler had malaria.
The mosquito-borne disease sickens more than 200 million people around the world each year and kills hundreds of thousands, and Shingler appears to be one of the few people in the US to get the disease without having traveled recently.
“I woke up very early in the morning and started shaking,” Shingler said. A high fever would follow and lead to vomiting.
“It was a lot of just doing my best to get myself to eat something as small as I could, which usually failed, or trying to drink water, which again failed,” Shingler said.
Shingler is now out of the hospital and no longer nauseated. He said he lost about 30 pounds.
He was stationed on the Rio Grande River in Brownsville for most of May, working mostly at night, and said he first felt sick on May 20.
Shingler doesn’t know how he contracted malaria or from where. He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been in contact with him as officials try to find the source.
“We were being torn apart by mosquitoes, fleas, whatever you can think of, you can call it,” Shingler said. “We were torn apart the entire time we were there, especially that first night.”
But he is not aware of anyone else from his unit who felt ill.
The GGD this week said there have been five cases of malaria in the US over the past two months that were acquired locally, meaning they were not linked to international travel.
The five – four in Florida and one in Texas – are the first locally acquired cases of malaria in the US in 20 years. The CDC issued warnings but said the risk remains extremely low across the country.
Malaria cases in the US are more common among people who have traveled outside the country.
According to the World Health Organization, the disease is most common in the African region. In 2021, there were an estimated 247 million cases worldwide, with approximately 619,000 deaths.
Malaria is not transmitted from person to person like a virus. It is caused by a parasite in a mosquito and infections usually occur when humans are bitten by female Anopheles mosquitoes, According to WHO. Five types of Plasmodium parasite can cause it, but two pose the greatest threat to humans.
All five patients in the US have been treated and are recovering, according to the CDC.
The health service urged people protect themselves against mosquitoes with things like clothes and pants with long sleeves and insect repellent. It also says get rid of standing water where mosquito eggs are laid and take other measures to control the insects.
Shingler said he didn’t expect to get malaria. He urged people to wear bug spray if they work where there are mosquitoes.
“I didn’t fully understand how impact this was until I read the news and I saw article after article after article saying, ‘Hey, first case of malaria locally in Texas in 20 years,'” he said. “I was like, ‘ Wow, that’s actually pretty crazy.'”
“I don’t think anyone even thought that was something that could happen,” he said. “In the end, I think it was just pure coincidence that I got it.”
