Malaria surveillance : 1969 annual report

In 1969, 3,806 cases of malaria were reported in the United States. This represents a 41.7 percent increase over the 2,686 cases reported in 1968. This increase was due entirely to a greater number of military cases imported from Vietnam. In 1969, 95.2 percent of all cases reported in the United States were acquired in Vietnam. As in previous years imported Plasmodium vivax infections were more common than imported P. falciparum infections (79.2 vs. 14.4 percent).Army personnel accounted for 77.1 percent of all Vietnam-acquired infections in 1969. The total number of Army cases (2,796) represented a 30.3 percent increase over 1968. This increase in Army cases was due to the increase of Army personnel returning from Vietnam for the attack rate in Army returnees remained relatively constant. The Marines, however, with 19.2 percent of Vietnam-acquired malaria infections in 1969 experienced a 262.6 percent rise in malaria cases compared with 1968. This increase in Marine cases could not be attributed solely to improved reporting or increased numbers of returnees.Despite the increase in malaria activity, there were no introductions of malaria reported during 1969. Of the five cases acquired in the United States, four were induced by blood transfusion. The fifth case is cryptic in origin.There were nine malaria fatalities, all due to P. falciparum. Only four of the fatal cases had served with the military in Vietnam. Of the five civilian deaths, four occurred in Americans who had recently returned from Africa. The fifth fatality had received multiple blood transfusions. Serologic studies indicated that the probable source of his infection was an asymptomatic veteran who had returned from Vietnam 1 year earlier.I. SUMMARY -- II. TERMINOLOGY -- I. GENERAL SURVEILLANCE INFORMATION -- IV. MILITARY MALARIA IMPORTED FROM VIETNAM -- V. CIVILIAN MALARIA IMPORTED FROM ABROAD -- VI. MALARIA ACQUIRED IN THE UNITED STATES -- VII. DEATHS DUE TO MALARIA -- VIII. REPORT FROM THE NATIONAL MALARIA REPOSITORY -- IX. ACKNOWLEDGMENT \u2013 Figure 1. Military and civilian case of malaria, United State 1959-1969 -- Figure 2. Geographic distribution of malaria cases with onset in the United States, 1969 \u2013 Figure 3. Malaria cases by month of onset, United States, 1969.197