A 4-year-old girl in northern Italy died on Sunday of cerebral malaria, raising fears that the deadly blood disease is back in a region that has been free of it for decades.
Sofia Zago, of Brescia, was rushed to the hospital on Saturday with a high fever and died sometime between Sunday and Monday, Reuters reported. Her death has puzzled Italian doctors, who are trying to pinpoint exactly how she contracted the disease in a malaria-free country.
"It's the first time in my 30-year career that I've seen a case of malaria originating in Trentino," said Dr Claudio Paternoster, an infectious diseases specialist at Trento's Santa Chiara Hospital said.
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