Evaluation of anopheline mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) from the republic of Korea for Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite protein.

As part of an on-going malaria surveillance effort conducted by the U.S. Forces Korea, Republic of Korea (ROK), a total of 28,286 anopheline mosquitoes was tested for the presence of Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite (CS) protein. Mosquitoes were collected (using a variety of light and baited traps) from 29 locations throughout the ROK (the majority were collected near the de-militarized zone), identified to species, and tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the presence of P. vivax 210 and P. vivax 247 CS protein. Recent evidence suggests that characters used to separate Anopheles sinensis Wiedemann from An. lesteri Baisas & Hu are unreliable; therefore, the data have been analyzed by grouping these two species. A total of 25,365 Anopheles sinensis/lesteri, 2,890 An. yatsushiroensis Miyazaki, and 31 An. sineroides Yamada was tested. Of these, one pool of 10 An. sinensis/lesteri collected on 9 September 1999 at Camp Howze and one pool of nine An. sinensis/ lesteri collected on 13 September 1999 at Camp Bonifas were positive for P. vivax 247.