[Malaria in Algerian Sahara].

Thanks to the malaria eradication campaign launched in Algeria in 1968, the number of malaria cases fell down significantly from 95,424 cases in 1960 to 30 cases in 1978. At that time the northern part of the country was declared free of Plasmodium falciparum. Only few cases belonging to P. vivax persisted in residual foci in the middle part of the country. In the beginning of the eighties, the south of the country was marked by an increase of imported malaria cases. The resurgence of the disease in the oases coincided with the opening of the Trans-Saharan road and the booming trade with the neighbouring southern countries. Several authors insisted on the risk of introduction of malaria or its exotic potential vectors in Algeria via this new road. Now, the totality of malaria autochthonous cases in Algeria are located in the south of the country where 300 cases were declared during the period (1980-2007). The recent outbreak recorded in 2007 at the borders with Mall and the introduction of Anopheles gambiae into the Algerian territory show the vulnerability of this area to malaria which is probably emphasized by the local environmental changes. The authors assess the evolution of malaria in the Sahara region and draw up the distribution of the anopheles in this area.