Malaria alert issued for Yanggu-gun as mosquito numbers surge

Gangwon Province issued its first malaria alert of the year for Yanggu-gun, effective Friday.

Provincial authorities immediately launched intensive control operations targeting key mosquito breeding sites, began a pilot program offering rapid self-test kits for early patient diagnosis, and stepped up prevention campaigns aimed at residents and visitors.

The alert follows a nationwide malaria advisory the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) issued on June 22, after the population of malaria-carrying mosquitoes in Yanggu-gun began to rise.

A malaria alert is issued to contain community-level outbreaks when either a cluster of two or more cases emerges after an initial advisory, or when the daily average mosquito count in the same county exceeds 5.0 for two consecutive weeks.

Field measurements by the Gangwon Province Institute of Health and Environment showed that the daily average count of disease-carrying mosquitoes in the Gukto Jungangmyeon area of Yanggu-gun exceeded 5.0 for two consecutive weeks starting in the third week of June — rising from 5.1 in the third week to 7.3 in the fourth.

"The most important thing to prevent malaria infection is to strictly follow mosquito-bite prevention guidelines," said Yoo Ji-young, director of the Gangwon Province welfare and health bureau. "If you develop symptoms such as fever or chills after being bitten by a mosquito, please visit your nearest public health center or medical facility immediately to get a rapid diagnostic test."