Status of Plasmodium vivax Malaria in the Republic of Korea after Reemergence

Jae-Won Park

doi:10.7599/hmr.2010.30.3.176

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Park: Status of Plasmodium vivax Malaria in the Republic of Korea after Reemergence

Review Article

Hanyang Medical Reviews

Hanyang Medical Reviews 2010; 30(3): 176-186.

Published online: 31 August 2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7599/hmr.2010.30.3.176

Status of Plasmodium vivax Malaria in the Republic of Korea after Reemergence

Jae-Won Park, M.D., Ph.D.

Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon, Korea.

Corresponding author (jw.moses.park@gmail.com)

Received 13 June 2010 Accepted 26 June 2010

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The annual number of Plasmodium vivax malaria cases had rapidly increased since its reemergence in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1993 to reach more than 4,000 cases in 2000. Since 2001, it began to decrease to 864 cases in 2004, and once again increased to reach more than 2,000 cases by 2007. P. vivax malaria mainly has occurred in the areas adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone, which implies that current malaria occurrence in ROK has been strongly influenced by malaria situation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Besides the direct influence from DPRK, local transmission within ROK also likely occurred. Chemoprophylaxis performed in the ROK Army since 1997 has contributed to the reduction in cases among military personnel. However, many prophylactic failure cases due to the resistance to the prophylactic regimen have been reported since 2000 and two cases of chloroquine (CQ)-resistant P. vivax were reported, representing the first-known cases of CQ-resistant P. vivax from a temperate region of Asia. Delayed recrudescence, a kind of level I-resistance against CQ, has occurred frequently in DPRK. Continuous surveillance and monitoring are warranted to prevent further expansion of CQ-resistant P. vivax in ROK and DPRK.

Keywords: Plasmodium vivax malaria, Republic of Korea, reemergence, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, chloroquine-resistance

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Proportion of P. vivax malaria ROK patients after reemergence. Data are from references [7-10].

Fig. 2

Distribution of reported P. vivax malaria cases among ROK military personnel and civilians in malaria-risk areas during 1993-2007. Data and figures are from references [7-10] . a, Administrative boundaries of the malaria-risk areas in ROK. DMZ represents the Demilitarized Zone. b, Annual malaria cases among military personnel (left panels) and civilians (right panels). Large dots represent 100 cases, medium dots 10 cases, and small dots one case. The asterisk in the 1993 military personnel map represents the first case.

Fig. 3

Number of P. vivax malaria cases of civilians, reported at 10-day intervals, 1999-2007, ROK. Data and figures are from references [7-10].

Fig. 4

Date of diagnosis for ROK military personnel without previous exposure to malaria the preceding year. The y-axis of each graph represents the number of patients. Data and figure are from reference [7].

Fig. 5

Number of the first late primary attack cases of P. vivax malaria among veterans discharged from the military between May, 2003 and April, 2006, during two consecutive malaria-transmission seasons after their discharge. Data and figure are from reference [10].

Fig. 6

Ten-day incident cases of malaria involving soldiers and civilians in ROK, January 1999 through December 2002. Arrows represent the starting point of chemoprophylaxis in each year. Data and figures are from reference [11].

Fig. 7

Comparison of the actual plasma concentrations of HCQ in 61 soldier patients infected with malaria parasites despite chemoprophylaxis for longer than 4 weeks to the simulated plasma time-concentration profiles of HCQ after oral administration of HCQ sulfate with a prophylactic dose of 400 mg/week. Data and figure are from reference [13].

Fig. 8

Official report of annual incidence of P. vivax malaria in DPRK. Data and figure are from reference [15].

Table 1

Annual incidence of Plasmodium vivax Malaria among the Republic of Korea Army Military Personnel, Veterans and Civilians

Data are from references [7-10].

^*Veterans include soldiers who were retired or discharged from the military for ≤2 years and previously assigned to a malaria-risk area.

^†Civilians include veterans who were discharged from the military for >2 years.

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