Risk assessment of malaria in land border regions of China in the context of malaria elimination

Malaria Journal

Research

Shengjie Lai¹  Zhongjie Li¹  Junling Sun¹  Qian Zhang¹  Zike Zhang²  Qibin Geng³  Archie C. A. Clements⁴  Wenbiao Hu⁵ 

[1] Division of Infectious Disease, Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early-warning on Infectious Disease, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Rd, Changping District, 102206, Beijing, China;Division of Infectious Disease, Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early-warning on Infectious Disease, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Rd, Changping District, 102206, Beijing, China;Center of Clinical Laboratory, the First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China;Division of Infectious Disease, Key Laboratory of Surveillance and Early-warning on Infectious Disease, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 155 Changbai Rd, Changping District, 102206, Beijing, China;State Key Laboratory of Virology and College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China;Research School of Population Health, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia;School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia;

关键词: Malaria;    Border;    Epidemiology;    Elimination;    China;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12936-016-1590-1

 received in 2016-08-10, accepted in 2016-10-28,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCross-border malaria transmission poses a challenge for countries to achieve and maintain malaria elimination. Because of a dramatic increase of cross-border population movement between China and 14 neighbouring countries, the malaria epidemic risk in China’s land border regions needs to be understood.MethodsIn this study, individual case-based epidemiological data on malaria in the 136 counties of China with international land borders, from 2011 to 2014, were extracted from the National Infectious Disease Information System. The Plasmodium species, seasonality, spatiotemporal distribution and changing features of imported and indigenous cases were analysed using descriptive spatial and temporal methods.ResultsA total of 1948 malaria cases were reported, with 1406 (72.2%) imported cases and 542 (27.8%) indigenous cases. Plasmodium vivax is the predominant species, with 1536 malaria cases occurrence (78.9%), following by Plasmodium falciparum (361 cases, 18.5%), and the others (51 cases, 2.6%). The magnitude and geographic distribution of malaria in land border counties shrunk sharply during the elimination period. Imported malaria cases were with a peak of 546 cases in 2011, decreasing yearly in the following years. The number of counties with imported cases decreased from 28 counties in 2011 to 26 counties in 2014. Indigenous malaria cases presented a markedly decreasing trend, with 319 indigenous cases in 2011 reducing to only 33 indigenous cases in 2014. The number of counties with indigenous cases reduced from 26 counties in 2011 to 10 counties in 2014. However, several bordering counties of Yunnan province adjacent to Myanmar reported indigenous malaria cases in the four consecutive years from 2011 to 2014.ConclusionsThe scale and extent of malaria occurrence in the international land border counties of China decreased dramatically during the elimination period. However, several high-risk counties, especially along the China–Myanmar border, still face a persistent risk of malaria introduction and transmission. The study emphasizes the importance and urgency of cross-border cooperation between neighbouring countries to jointly face malaria threats to elimination goals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2016