U.S.-Acquired Malaria Cases Spark False Claims of Links to Gates-Funded Research

Five locally acquired cases of malaria have been found in the U.S. in recent months, marking the first time the mosquito-borne disease has been spread locally in 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. malaria cases are usually the result of international travel. 

Four of the cases were found in Florida and one in Texas, the CDC said. The risk of locally acquired malaria “remains extremely low,” the CDC said, though it noted that transmission is possible in warm climates and in areas where people have traveled from “malaria-endemic” places. 

There’s no evidence the cases in the two states are connected, the CDC said. It issued a health advisory for clinicians and the public, citing the locally acquired cases, concern about a potential increase in “imported malaria cases” as a result of international travel this summer and the need to plan for “rapid access” to the intravenous malaria drug artesunate. 

The news has sparked a string of viral posts on social media implying that Bill Gates’ support for malaria research is responsible for the recent cases in the U.S. But that’s false.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funds efforts to fight the spread of malaria, and it has provided funding to a British biotech company, Oxitec, to release genetically modified mosquitoes in Africa that are incapable of carrying the disease.