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The main location for malaria infections on the Korean Peninsula is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. |
Malaria increase linked to loss of inter-Korean cooperation
June 14th, 2016 - The number of malaria patients in South Korea is increasing, possibly due to a halt in inter-Korean cooperation to prevent the disease in the humid DMZ area, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.
According to the Seoul's government index, malaria infections stood at 2,227 in 2007 but had fallen to 445 in 2013. In 2014 the number of patients increased for the first time in seven years, to 638. During the decline more than half the patients - 1,700 in 2007 and 228 in 2013 - were from Gyeonggi Province, which borders the North. The main location for malaria infections on the Korean Peninsula is the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas. Soldiers serving in the area have to wear uniforms treated with repellent. "Mosquitoes and malaria are a big concern in that area," said John Grisafi, NK News director of intelligence, who used to work in that area for the U.S. Army in South Korea. Mosquitoes born at the DMZ can travel a maximum of 70 kilometers in the South or the North, including regions like Kaesong, Mount Kumgang, Paju and Ilsan, physician Kim Jung-ryong told NK News. Gyeonggi Province used to provide anti-malaria facilities and medical goods to North Korea from 2008-2011, but support has been halted since 2012. Kim, who used to serve at a hospital in the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), said joint anti-epidemic measures helped to decrease infections at Kaesong. "From 2005 to 2008, there were many malaria patients in the Kaesong complex," Kim said. "The KIC hospital diagnosed and treated the disease, then (infections) gradually decreased by the end of 2012, from double digits to single (within the KIC)." North Korea is currently laying out a nationwide campaign to prevent mosquito-delivered infections around bordering cities, online state media outlet Maeari reported June 6. "Removing all the conditions which may create mosquitoes, the carrier of the Zika virus, the Kaesong city quarantine center is guiding disinfection and combustion," the article reads. The media particularly indicated the possibility of Zika virus infections from South Korea, emphasizing the importance of quarantining hospitals in areas bordering the Imjin River. The Zika virus arrived in South Korea in March 22. In April, North Korea passed a new regulation for its Special Economic Zones to strengthen health screenings. "The inter-Korean quarantine in the DMZ area is meaningful," Kim said. "It can prevent mosquitoes which carry not only malaria but also encephalitis, dengue and the Zika virus. It would be happy if this could serve as momentum for inter-Korean cooperation." Living in the zone | Seoul may be suffering the side-effects of stopping support for N.Korean anti-malaria efforts |
Major General Urs Gerber, the head of the Swiss delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission that oversees the armistice between North and South Korea, lives just meters from the North Korean border - right inside the malaria zone. Gerber says he has learned to live with the threat posed by the mosquitoes. But, he adds, one must be prepared. Closing doors at sunset, covering exposed body parts and wearing special uniforms treated with mosquito-proofing are just some of the ways, Gerber says, of how best to avoid being bitten. Despite his advice, each year thousands of South Koreans contract a non-deadly, nevertheless exhausting, malaria variant around the zone. According to the United Nations, the situation north of the border isn't much different. But statistics for North Korea are not available. "Mosquitoes don't stay in one spot," researcher Klein says. "You find that winds are prevailing to the south. So, mosquitoes can get up into the system of the wind direction, they could actually come from over the DMZ to South Korea." International health experts are not confident the virus can be eradicated from the DMZ. Jerome Kim, director of the International Vaccine Institute likens the situation in the DMZ to the current spread of the Zika virus in the Americas. In a recent opinion piece in a leading South Korean newspaper, Kim emphasized the importance of coordinating efforts to identify outbreak risks, and the need for sufficient funding for research and development. In almost a quarter of a century, researcher Klein has left his mark on the Korean peninsula. He discovered the Korean mosquito which carried the malaria virus in the East Asian country, and it was aptly named after him: the Anopheles Kleini. The mosquito turned out, Klein says, "to be a probable primary vector of malaria in the DMZ." When spring comes again, and temperatures across Korea begin to rise, Klein will again be back on mosquito duty heading northward to the DMZ to trap and test the insects.
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