Species Diversity of Anopheles Mosquitoes and Plasmodium vivax Infection Rates, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea During 2020

So Youn Lee; Heung Chul Kim; Terry A Klein; Jihun Ryu; Min Hyeok Won; Jae Won Choi; Myung Soon Kim; Sung Tae Chong; Si Hyeock Lee; Young Ho Kim; Ju Hyeon Kim; Kwang Shik Choi

doi:10.1093/jme/tjac086

Species Diversity of Anopheles Mosquitoes and Plasmodium vivax Infection Rates, Gyeonggi Province, Republic of Korea During 2020

J Med Entomol. 2022 Sep 14;59(5):1778-1786. doi: 10.1093/jme/tjac086.

Authors

So Youn Lee^{1

2}, Heung Chul Kim^{3

4}, Terry A Klein³, Jihun Ryu^{1

2}, Min Hyeok Won^{1

2}, Jae Won Choi^{1

2}, Myung Soon Kim³, Sung Tae Chong³, Si Hyeock Lee⁵, Young Ho Kim⁶, Ju Hyeon Kim⁷, Kwang Shik Choi^{1

2

8}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41566, Korea.
² Research Institute for Dok-do and Ulleung-do Island, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.
³ Force Health Protection and Preventive Medicine, Medical Department Activity-Korea/65th Medical Brigade, Unit 15281, APO AP 96271-5281, USA.
⁴ U Inc. 34-gil, Daesakwan-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 04409, Repulic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
⁶ Department of Entomology, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, Crea.
⁷ Department of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
⁸ Institute for Phylogenomics and Evolution, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea.

PMID: 35819996
DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjac086

Abstract

There are currently >300 malaria cases reported annually in the Republic of Korea (ROK), with most cases attributed to exposure in northern Gangwon and Gyeonggi provinces near the demilitarized zone (DMZ). The species diversity and malaria infection rate were determined for a sample of Anopheles mosquitoes collected from May to early November 2020 for six sites in a malaria high-risk area in/near the DMZ and two malaria low-risk areas in southern Gyeonggi province using Mosquito Magnet traps in the ROK. A total of 1864 Anopheles spp. were identified to species by PCR. Overall, An. kleini (31.4%, 510/1622) was the most frequently species assayed, followed by An. pullus (25.5%, 413/1622), An. sineroides (23.9%, 387/1622), and An. sinensis (10.2%, 165/1622), while the other four species only accunted for 9.1% (147/1622) collected in/near the DMZ. Only three species, An. pullus, An. sinensis, and An. sineroides were collected at Humphreys US Army Garrison (USAG) (235 individuals), while only An. sinensis was collected at Yongsan USAG (7 individuals). A total of 36 Anopheles specimens belonging to five species collected in/near the DMZ were positive for Plasmodium vivax by PCR. Anopheles kleini (9) was the most frequent species positive for P. vivax, followed by An. belenrae (8), An. pullus (8), An. sinensis (5), An. sineroides (5), and a member of the Anopheles Lindesayi Complex in the ROK (1). This is the first report of P. vivax in a member of the An. Lindesayi Complex in the ROK. These findings can assist in guiding future malaria vector management in the ROK.

Keywords: Anopheles; Plasmodium vivax; Republic of Korea.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Anopheles*
Malaria*
Malaria, Vivax* / epidemiology
Mosquito Vectors
Plasmodium vivax
Republic of Korea / epidemiology