Crossword Genius

In Los Angeles a Spanish girl caught the disease (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

malaria

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'disease' is the definition.
(malaria is a kind of health problem)

'in los angeles a spanish girl caught' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is within the answer.
'girl' could be 'lari' and 'lari' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ma' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

'the' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for malaria that I've seen before include "Fever caused by mosquito" , "Protozoal disease" , "Infectious fever" , "Disease from bites by infected mosquitos" , "Disease carried by mosquitos" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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