5204 Malaria Patients in Gyeonggi Region Over 10 Years... Concentrated from June to August

A researcher from the Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment is classifying mosquitoes.

Over the past 10 years, more than 5,200 malaria cases have been reported in Gyeonggi-do, with 62% of all patients concentrated between June and August.

The Gyeonggi-do Institute of Health and Environment published a 10-year malaria vector mosquito surveillance report covering the results from 2013 to 2022 to provide basic data for the malaria re-eradication project.

According to the report, there were 5,204 malaria patients in Gyeonggi-do from 2013 to 2022, with the highest number of 673 cases in 2016. The lowest was 294 cases in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. By month, 3,252 patients occurred during the three months from June to August, accounting for 62.5% of the total. The occurrence trend showed that the first cases were confirmed in the first or second week of April each year, increased through June to August, and then sharply decreased after September.

The Institute of Health and Environment, together with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, conducts malaria vector mosquito surveillance annually from April to October in seven cities and counties in northern Gyeonggi-do: Paju, Gimpo, Goyang, Dongducheon, Uijeongbu, Pocheon, and Yeoncheon.

Mosquito collection is performed weekly, and by monitoring the occurrence patterns and parasite carriage of the vector mosquitoes, Anopheles species, information is provided to contribute to malaria re-eradication efforts.

According to the surveillance results, the highest average annual number of vector mosquitoes was found in Josan-ri, Paju, with 5,279 mosquitoes, followed by Samgot-ri, Yeoncheon with 2,122 mosquitoes, and Baekyeon-ri, Paju with 1,124 mosquitoes.

A representative from the Institute of Health and Environment stated, "As the second phase of malaria re-eradication begins in 2024, we hope this report will serve as a useful resource for realizing malaria re-eradication both domestically and within Gyeonggi-do."

Meanwhile, the report will be distributed to related organizations and posted on the institute’s website.