Parasites, Hosts and Diseases

The Korea Society for Parasitology and Tropical Medicine (대한기생충학·열대의학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

An Epidemiological Analysis of 28 Vivax Malaria Cases in Gimpo-si, Korea, 2020

  • Bahk, Young Yil (Department of Biotechnology, College of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University) ;
  • Cho, Shin-Hyeong (Noul Co. LTD.) ;
  • Kim, Kyoung-Nam (Department of Preventive Medicine, Ajou University School of Medicine) ;
  • Shin, Eun-Hee (Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Seoul National University School of Medicine) ;
  • Jeon, Byoung-Hak (Department of Municipal Hospital Policy & Management, Seoul Health Foundation) ;
  • Kim, Jeong-Hyun (Eone Laboratories) ;
  • Park, Sookkyung (Bureau of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Kwon, Jeongran (Bureau of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Kan, Hyesu (Bureau of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Kim, Miyoung (Bureau of Infectious Disease Policy, Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency) ;
  • Kim, Tong-Soo (Department of Tropical Medicine & Global Resource Bank of Parasitic Protozoa Pathogens, Inha University School of Medicine)
  • Received : 2021.07.19
  • Accepted : 2021.10.06
  • Published : 2021.10.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Since 1993, vivax malaria has been recognized as a public health burden in Korea. Despite of pan-governmental malaria-control efforts and the dramatic reduction in the burden of this disease over the last 10 years, vivax malaria has not been well controlled and has remained continuously endemic. We focused interviewed and examined the charts of 28 confirmed vivax malaria patients given malarial therapy for whom daily records were kept from Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do of Korea. Various epidemiological characteristics of vivax malaria, including the incubation period, medication used, and recurrence, and an evaluation of the parasitic characteristics from the focused interviews of patients from this region are described here. Most of the participants indicated the 3 most common symptoms of malaria (headache, chills and fever). Of the 28 cases, 2 experienced a second attack and there were 17 and 11 cases with short- and long-term incubation periods, respectively, yielding a short-term to long-term ratio of 1.5. Based on the parasitemia stages, most of the participants were tested at 5 to 7 days (11 cases) and 7 to 15 days (11 cases) after initial wave of asexual parasites. In conclusion, public health authorities should consider developing management measures to decrease the time lag for diagnosis and drafting unified and robust guidelines for drug use for malaria and drawing up unified and robust guidelines on the use of medication for malaria. It also suggests that routine monitoring, surveillance, and precise medical surveys in high-risk vivax malaria endemic areas are pivotal to controlling this persistent public disease and finally eliminating it from Korea.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by funding from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and by funding from the National Research Fund (NRF-2017M3A9B8069530, NRF-2020R1F1A1070882) in Korea.

References

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The history of malaria, an ancient disease [Internet]. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/malaria/
  2. World Health Organization. World Malaria Report 2020. Geneva, Switzerland. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015791
  3. Adams JH, Mueller I. The biology of Plasmodium vivax. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2017; 7: a025585. http://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a025585
  4. Bahk YY, Lee HW, Na BK, Kim J, Jin K, Hong YS, Kim TS. Epidemiological characteristics of re-emerging vivax malaria in the Republic of Korea (1993-2017). Korean J Parasitol 2018; 56: 531-543. http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2018.56.6.531
  5. World Health Organization. WHO country cooperation strategy 2019-2023: Republic of Korea. World Health Organization. Regional Office for the Western Pacific 2019. https://web-prod.who.int/docs/default-source/searo/india/publications/ccs.pdf?sfvrsn=8a603abc_2
  6. World Health Organization. Malaria Surveillance, Monitoring & Evaluation: A Reference Manual. Geneva, Switzerland. World Health Organization. 2018. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/272284/9789241565578-eng.pdf
  7. World Health Organization. Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030. Geneva, Switzerland. World Health Organization. 2015. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/176712/1/9789241564991_eng.pdg
  8. Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Infectious Diseases surveillance System [Internet]. Available from: https://is.kdca.go.kr/
  9. Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Infectious Disease Portal. Available from: http://www.kdca.go.kr/npt/
  10. Lim CS, Kim YK, Lee KN, Kim MJ, Kim KH, Kim DS, Strickman D. Response to chloroquine of Plasmodium vivax among South Korea soldiers. Ann Trop Med Parasitol 1999; 93: 565-568. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00034983.1999.11813460
  11. Moon KT, Kim YK, Ko DH, Park I, Shin DC, Kim C. Recurrence rate of vivax malaria in the Republic of Korea. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2009; 103: 1245-1249. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.trstmh.2008.10.023
  12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment of malaria: Guidelines for Clinicians, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/malaria/diagnosis_treatment/clinicians1.html
  13. Park SY, Park YS, Park Y, Kwak YG, Song JE, Lee KS, Cho SH, Lee SE, Shin HI, Yeom JS. Increasing malaria parasite clearance time after chloroquine therapy, South Korea, 2000-2016. Emerg Infect Dis 2020; 26: 1852-1855. http://doi.org/10.3201/eid2608.190687
  14. Nishiura H, Lee HW, Cho SH, Lee WG, In TS, Moon SU, Chung GT, Kim TS. Estimate of short- and long-term incubation periods of Plasmodium vivax malaria in the Republic of Korea. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2007; 101: 338-343. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.trstmh.2006.11.002
  15. Burkett DA, Lee WJ, Lee KW, Kim HC, Lee HI, Lee JS, Shin E-H, Wirtz RA, Cho HW, Claborn DM, Coleman RE, Kim WY, Klein TA. Late season commercial mosquito trap and host seeking activity evaluation against mosquitos in a malarious area of the Republic of Korea. Korean J Parasitol 2002; 40: 45-54. http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2002.40.1.45
  16. Goo YK, Moon JH, Ji SY, Chung DI, Hong Y, Cho SH, Lee WJ, Kim JY. The unique distribution of the Plasmodium vivax merozoite surface protein 1 in parasite isolates with short and long latent periods from the Republic of Korea. Malaria J 2015; 14: 299. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-015-0803-3
  17. Milner Jr. DA. Malaria pathogenesis. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2018; 8: a025569. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a025569
  18. Day KP, Hayward RE, Dyer M. The biology of Plasmodium falciparum transmission stages. Parasitology 1998; 116 (suppl): 95-109. http://doi.org/10.1017/s0031182000084985
  19. Eichner M, Diebner HH, Molineaux L, Collins WE, Jeffery GM, Dietz K. Genesis, sequestration and survival of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes: parameter estimates from fitting a model to malaria therapy data. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 2001; 95: 497-501. http://doi.org/10.1016/s0035-9203(01)90016-1
  20. Bousema T, Drakeley C. Epidemiology and infectivity of Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax gametocytes in relation to malaria control and elimination. Clin Microbiol Rev 2011; 24: 377-410. http://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00051-10
  21. McKenzie EF, Jeffery GM, Collins WE. Gametocytemia and fever in human malaria infections. J Parasitol 2007; 93: 627-633. http://doi.org/10.1645/GE-1052R.1
  22. McKenzie EF, Wongsrichanalai C, Magill AJ, Forney RJ, Permpanich B, Lucas C, Erhart LM, O'Meara WP, Smith DL, Sirichaisiinthop J, Gasser Jr RA. Gametocytemia in Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum infections. J Parasitol 2006; 92: 1281-1285. http://doi.org/10.1645/GE-911R.1
  23. Fernando D, Rodrigo C, Rajapakse S. Primaquine in vivax malaria: an update and review on management issues. Malar J 2011; 10: 351. http://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-10-351