The annual incidence of Plasmodium vivax malaria that reemerged in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 1993 increased annually, reaching 4,142 cases in 2000, decreased to 864 cases in 2004, and once again increased to reach more than 2,000 cases by 2007. Early after reemergence, more than two-thirds of the total annual cases were reported among military personnel. However, subsequently, the proportion of civilian cases increased consistently, reaching over 60% in 2006. P. vivax malaria has mainly occurred in the areas adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone, which strongly suggests that malaria situation in ROK has been directly influenced by infected mosquitoes originating from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Besides the direct influence from DPRK, local transmission within ROK was also likely. P. vivax malaria in ROK exhibited a typical unstable pattern with a unimodal peak from June through September. Chemoprophylaxis with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and primaquine, which was expanded from approximately 16,000 soldiers in 1997 to 200,000 soldiers in 2005, contributed to the reduction in number of cases among military personnel. However, the efficacy of the mass chemoprophylaxis has been hampered by poor compliance. Since 2000, many prophylactic failure cases due to resistance to the HCQ prophylactic regimen have been reported and 2 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. Continuous surveillance and monitoring are warranted to prevent further expansion of CQ-resistant P. vivax in ROK.
Keywords: Plasmodium vivax; Republic of Korea; chemoprophylaxis; chloroquine-resistance; demilitarized zone; local transmission; malaria; reemergence; unstable malaria.