CHINESE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY AND PARASITIC DISEASES ›› 2022, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (2): 135-139.doi: 10.12140/j.issn.1000-7423.2022.02.001

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Epidemiological characteristics of malaria in China, 2021

ZHANG Li(), YI Bo-yu, XIA Zhi-gui, YIN Jian-hai*()   

  1. National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Chinese Center for Tropical Diseases Research); NHC Key Laboratory of Parasite and Vector Biology; WHO Collaborating Centre for Tropical Diseases; National Center for International Research on Tropical Diseases, Shanghai 200025, China
  • Received:2022-03-15 Revised:2022-03-17 Online:2022-04-30 Published:2022-04-01
  • Contact: YIN Jian-hai E-mail:zhangli@nipd.chinacdc.cn;yinjh@nipd.chinacdc.cn

Abstract:

Malaria epidemic data in 31 provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions (excluding Taiwan region, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR) of China in 2021 were collected from the Information System for Parasitic Disease Prevention and Control. The epidemiological characteristic of malaria cases was analyzed. In 2021, 799 malaria cases were reported in China, which was declined by 26.4% compared to that in 2020 (1 086). Of these cases, 798 imported cases and one long incubation case infected with Plasmodium malariae were identified, and no indigenous cases were reported. In addition, 783 cases were of Chinese nationality (98.0%, 783/799) and 16 cases were of foreign nationality (2.0%, 16/799). Most of the cases were within the age range of 30-49 years (55.7%, 445/799), with a male-to-female ratio of 14.4 ∶ 1. The reported cases included 390 cases of P. falciparum infection (48.8%, 390/799), 182 cases of P. vivax infection (22.8%, 182/799), 187 cases of P. ovale infection (23.4%, 187/799), 31 cases of P. malariae infection (3.9%, 31/799) and 9 cases with mixed-infection (1.1%, 9/799). The cases were reported from 31 provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions, with the top 5 provinces of Guangdong, Yunnan, Shanghai, Sichuan and Zhejiang, from which 480 cases (60.1%, 480/799) were reported. Totally 3 deaths were reported from Liaoning (1 case), Zhejiang (1 case) and Guangdong (1 case) provinces, which was decreased by 3 cases compared to 6 deaths in 2020. Noticeably, there have been no reported cases of of indigenous mosquito-borne malaria in China for consecutive five years. Nevertheless, it is imperative to continuously strengthen the surveillance on imported malaria and border malaria to prevent malaria re-introduction and consolidate the achievements of malaria elimination in China.

Key words: Malaria, Epidemiological characteristics, China

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