Malaria cited as cause in death of Georgia trucker found in Mansfield

January 6, 2024 at 4:55 a.m.

by Doug Thompson

Mosquitoes are seen inside a stock cage in a mosquito laboratory at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London in this May 30, 2013 file photo. Researchers at the school have discovered that malaria-infected mosquitoes are more attracted to human odors. (AP/Sang Tan)
Mosquitoes are seen inside a stock cage in a mosquito laboratory at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London in this May 30, 2013 file photo. Researchers at the school have discovered that malaria-infected mosquitoes are more attracted to human odors. (AP/Sang Tan)


MANSFIELD -- A virulent strain of malaria caused the death of a truck driver found in a Mansfield grocery store parking lot in November, a state Crime Laboratory autopsy determined.

Mohammed Keita, 35, of Lawrenceville, Ga., was found dead in a truck in the Harps Food Store parking lot in Mansfield on Nov. 17. He had suffered from an undiagnosed illness after returning from a trip to Africa on Nov. 14, Mansfield Police Department investigators learned from employer Blair Logistics of Birmingham, Ala., and hospital records.

The department released a copy of the state's autopsy report Thursday. The report shows cause of death as "cerebral malaria due to plasmodium falciparum."

The plasmodium falciparum strain of malaria causes 90% of fatalities in malaria cases worldwide, according to the federal National Center for Biotechnology Information's website. Public health efforts eradicated malaria in the United States in 1951 except for sporadic outbreaks. For instance, the U.S. saw nine home-grown cases of malaria in all of 2023: seven in Florida and one each in Texas and Maryland, federal health statistics show. The case in Maryland was the only one of those nine domestic cases of the plasmodium falciparum variety, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All of the other 2,000 or so U.S. malaria cases of any variety last year were among people returning from overseas.

Malaria is disease borne by mosquitoes. An estimated 249 million people worldwide contracted the disease in 2022, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. Of those, an estimated 608,000 died. African cases made up 94% of all cases and 95% of the fatalities from the disease, according to the organization.

Keita's body was found after his employer contacted Mansfield police and requested a welfare check on him. The department found him and, as a precaution, asked Fort Smith's hazmat team to come to the scene. Keita had received treatment at a hospital in Ponca City, Okla., the day before his body was found, police said at the time. He was released earlier the day he died. Mansfield is 236 miles from Ponca City by the shortest route, maps show.


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