Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May-Jun:53:102575.
doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2023.102575. Epub 2023 Apr 24.

Imported malaria from land bordering countries in China: A challenge in preventing the reestablishment of malaria transmission

Jian-Hai Yin  1 , Li Zhang  1 , Bo-Yu Yi  1 , Shui-Sen Zhou  1 , Zhi-Gui Xia  2
Affiliations

Imported malaria from land bordering countries in China: A challenge in preventing the reestablishment of malaria transmission

Jian-Hai Yin et al. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2023 May-Jun.

Abstract

Objective: No indigenous malaria cases have been reported since 2017 in China, but a large number of imported cases are still reported every year, including those from the land bordering countries. To characterize their epidemiological profiles will provide evidence for the development of appropriate strategies to effectively address the challenges of border malaria in the post-elimination phase.

Methods: Individual-level data of imported malaria cases from the land bordering countries were collected from 2017 to 2021 in China via the web-based surveillance systems, and analyzed by SPSS, ArcGIS and WPS software, to explore their epidemiological profiles.

Results: A total of 1170 malaria cases imported into China from six of the fourteen land bordering countries were reported between 2017 and 2021 with a decline trend. Overall, cases were widely distributed in 31-97 counties from 11 to 21 provinces but mainly in Yunnan. Moreover, these imported cases were mainly infected with P. vivax (94.8%), and a total of 68 recurrent cases were reported in 6-14 counties from 4 to 8 provinces. In addition, nearly 57.1% of the total reported cases could seek healthcare within 2 days of getting sick, and 71.3% of the reported cases could be confirmed as malaria on the day they sought medical care.

Conclusions: China still needs to attach great importance to the risk and challenge of the imported malaria from bordering countries particularly from Myanmar in preventing reestablishment of malaria transmission in the post-elimination phase. It is necessary not only to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with the bordering countries, but also coordinate multiple departments at home to improve malaria surveillance and response system and prevent the reestablishment of malaria transmission in China.

Keywords: Bordering country; China; Imported malaria; Plasmodium vivax; Recurrence; Reestablishment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Temporal distribution of malaria cases from the bordering countries, 2017–2021.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The distribution of malaria cases from the bordering countries in China, 2017–2021. Blue triangle means that cases were reported at the prefectural level. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The distribution of vivax malaria cases from the bordering countries in China, 2017–2021. Blue triangle means that cases were reported at the prefectural level. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Time interval from onset to healthcare seeking among the malaria cases from the bordering countries reported in China, 2017–2021.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Time interval from healthcare seeking to diagnosis confirmation among the malaria cases from the bordering countries reported in China, 2017–2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World malaria report 2022. World Health Organization; Geneva: 2022.
    1. Feng J., Zhang L., Huang F., Yin J.H., Tu H., Xia Z.G., Zhou S.S., Xiao N., Zhou X.N. Ready for malaria elimination: zero indigenous case reported in the People's Republic of China. Malar J. 2018;17(1):315. - PMC - PubMed
    1. WHO From 30 million cases to zero: China is certified malaria-free by WHO. https://www.who.int/news/item/30-06-2021-from-30-million-cases-to-zero-c...
    1. Zhang L., Feng J., Zhang S.S., Xia Z.G., Zhou S.S. The progress of national malaria elimination and epidemiological characteristics of malaria in China in 2017. Chin J Parasitol Parasit Dis. 2018;36(3):201–209.
    1. Zhang L., Feng J., Zhang S.S., Xia Z.G., Zhou S.S. Epidemiological characteristics of malaria and the progress towards its elimination in China in 2018. Chin J Parasitol Parasit Dis. 2019;37(3):241–247. [in Chinese)]