The Korean Journal of Parasitology  2009;47(3):269-273

doi:10.3347/kjp.2009.47.3.269

A Locally Acquired Falciparum Malaria via Nosocomial Transmission in Korea.

Jung Yeon KIM 1 ; Jeong Su KIM ; Mi Hyun PARK ; Young A KANG ; Jun Wook KWON ; Shin Hyeong CHO ; Byeong Chul LEE ; Tong Soo KIM ; Jong Koo LEE

Affiliations

+expand

Keywords

Plasmodium falciparum; malaria; nosocomial transmission

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

English

Abstract

A 57-year old man who was admitted to an emergency room of a tertiary hospital with hemoptysis developed malarial fever 19 days later and then died from severe falciparum malaria 2 days later. He had not traveled outside of Korea for over 30 years. Through intensive interviews and epidemiological surveys, we found that a foreign patient with a recent history of travel to Africa was transferred to the same hospital with severe falciparum malaria. We confirmed through molecular genotyping of the MSP-1 gene that Plasmodium falciparum genotypes of the 2 patients were identical. It is suggested that a breach of standard infection control precautions resulted in this P. falciparum transmission between 2 patients in a hospital environment. This is the first report of a nosocomial transmission of falciparum malaria in Korea.