Thanks to investment and guide of Ministry of Health and National Project for malaria prevention, National Institute of Malariology - Parasitology – Entomology, from 1998 to 10 early months of 2003, malaria status have been gained stably in Ha Giang province. Three targets of the malaria control program: “reduction of morbidity, no death of malaria and no malaria outbreak” have always been gained. These achievements have been obtained due to Ha Giang have implemented well malaria prevention plans, increasing malaria surveillance. The frequent malaria surveillance in 10 early months of 2003 has helped to early detect and manage all malaria cases in the province
Malaria ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; diagnosis ;

In South Korea, the north border area has been under vivax malaria epidemic since 1993. However, Jeollabuk-do, which is about 300 kms from the border, has not experienced the same epidemic. I investigated a total of 58 notified cases of malaria in Jeollabuk-do in the year 2000. All of the cases had an exposure history in the epidemic area. Among them were 49 ex-soldiers, 3 soldiers who served near the border area and 6 civilians who traveled there. The causal agent of all cases was Plasmodium vivax. Except the civilians, the soldiers and ex-soldiers were aged in their twenties. In the present study, the incubation period was from 6 to 520 days with a median of 157 days, and the latent onset type (92%) was more prevalent than the early onset type. Illness onset of most cases (86%) peaked during the summer season (June to September) despite of variable incubation periods. The time lag for diagnosis ranged from 2 to 42 days with a median of 11 days. Jeollabuk-do has not been an area of epidemic until now, but incidences have been increasing annually since 1996. In Jeollabuk-do, early diagnosis and treatment can be a feasible disease control measure to prevent spreading from the epidemic area.
Human ; Incidence ; Korea/epidemiology ; Malaria/diagnosis/*epidemiology/prevention & control ; Seasons ; Time Factors