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Serious and fatal bouts of malaria in the United States are a greater problem than has been previously reported, according to a new study. Most appear to be in immigrants who have made summer or Christmas visits to their home countries without taking precautions against infection. (McNeil, 4/24)

Malaria transmission in the United States was eliminated in the early 1950s through the use of insecticides, drainage ditches and the incredible power of window screens. But the mosquito-borne disease has staged a comeback in American hospitals as travelers return from parts of the world where malaria runs rampant. In the early 1970s there only a couple hundred malaria cases reported in the entire U.S. but that number has steadily increased in recent years. (Beaubien, 4/24)

Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute will continue its efforts to control and eliminate malaria in Africa with a seven-year, $10 million federal grant. The funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases follows a previous seven-year grants that was used by researchers from Hopkins in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa. The new funds will allow expansion in central Africa. (Cohn, 4/24)