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
. 2025 Dec;14(1):2432359.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2024.2432359. Epub 2024 Dec 16.

Unprecedented large outbreak of Plasmodium malariae malaria in Vietnam: Epidemiological and clinical perspectives

Chau Van Khanh  1 , Hương Giang Lê  2 , Tuấn Cường Võ  2 , Nguyen Xuan Quang  1 , Do Van Nguyen  1 , Nguyen Cong Trung Dung  1 , Le Thanh Tam  1 , Nguyen Thanh Thuy Nhien  3 , Đăng Thùy Dương Nguyễn  1   2 , Thu Hằng Nguyễn  2 , Tran Thi Hue Van  4 , Le Duc Vinh  5 , Pham Minh Quan  5 , Nguyen Kim Trung  4 , Jung-Mi Kang  2 , Byoung-Kuk Na  2 , Huynh Hong Quang  1
Affiliations

Unprecedented large outbreak of Plasmodium malariae malaria in Vietnam: Epidemiological and clinical perspectives

Chau Van Khanh et al. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2025 Dec.

Abstract

Plasmodium malariae, a causative agent of quartan malaria, is prevalent across tropical and subtropical regions, but global cases have been usually very rare and sporadic. However, a significant outbreak of quartan malaria caused by P. malariae occurred in Khanh Vinh District, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam in 2023 and the outbreak persists. In this report, we present the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of this unprecedented outbreak of quartan malaria in Vietnam.

Keywords: Plasmodium malariae; Vietnam; epidemiology; outbreak; quartan malaria.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Quartan malaria outbreak in the Khanh Vinh District, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. (A) Monthly incidences of malaria cases from January 2023 to June 2024. (B) Geographical distribution of P. malariae cases from January 2023 to June 2024.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fuehrer HP, Campino S, Sutherland CJ.. The primate malaria parasites Plasmodium malariae, Plasmodium brasilianum and Plasmodium ovale spp.: genomic insights into distribution, dispersal and host transitions. Malar J. 2022;21(1):138. doi:10.1186/s12936-022-04151-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. McKenzie FE, Jeffery GM, Collins WE.. Plasmodium malariae blood-stage dynamics. J Parasitol. 2001;87(3):626. doi:10.2307/3285103 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kotepui M, Kotepui KU, Milanez GD, et al. . Global prevalence and mortality of severe Plasmodium malariae infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Malar J. 2020;19(1):274. doi:10.1186/s12936-020-03344-z - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yerlikaya S, Campillo A, Gonzalez IJ.. A systematic review: performance of rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of Plasmodium knowlesi, Plasmodium malariae, and Plasmodium ovale monoinfections in human blood. J Infect Dis. 2018;218(2):265–276. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiy150 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu J, Tang J, Wang W, et al. . Poor performance of malaria rapid diagnostic tests for the detection of Plasmodium malariae among returned international travellers in China. Malar J. 2023;22(1):163. doi:10.1186/s12936-023-04596-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources