ST PAUL, Minn. — It's all hands on deck inside a lab at the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District's Headquarters in St. Paul, as Entomologist Diann Crane identifies different species of mosquitos.
While experts say they've seen a decline in Minnesota's mosquito population so far this year there's concern nationwide after the CDC issued a recent alert about cases of malaria in Florida and Texas.
"Malaria is quite rare in terms of localized transmission in the U.S," said Kirk Johnson, a vector ecologist. "Malaria transmission in Minnesota is always a low-level threat, but we have a few species that are capable of transmitting malaria."
The virus leads to more than 240 million infections worldwide every year with the majority of the cases in Africa.
"We do see introduced cases in virtually every state in the US every year, and here in Minnesota every year, and that's due to people traveling to countries where malaria is endemic," said Johnson.
While experts say the chance of contracting malaria in places outside of an affected area is low they're keeping an eye out for other viruses that could be potentially harmful.
"I always reassure people that even though we have the vector here, we don't necessarily have the parasite so people don't need to be concerned they'll get malaria," said Crane.
"There are local mosquito-borne viruses we deal with in Minnesota every year... West Nile is the most common. This is always a concern," said Johnson.