Vietnam

The haplotype 7 which is the typical Asian profile is likely well-adapted to high drug pressure in this area and may constitute a good genetic marker to evaluate the dissemination of QNR in this part of the world.

We compare alternative hypotheses concerning the origin of this pattern. The observed data deviate from the expectations based on a single-panmictic population with or without growth, or a stable but spatially structured population.

In rural communities in north central Vietnam, malaria transmission was maintained by a number of anopheline species which though collected feeding on humans were predominantly zoophilic, this behaviour allows for low level but persistent malaria transmission.

This study showed stable levels of P. falciparum sensitivity to artemisinin compounds in the two sites over a ten-year period.

The results suggest the existence of a cryptic species in northern Vietnam that is morphologically similar to, but phylogenetically distant from both An. dirus and An. takasagoensis.

Fourteen published and three newly identified polymorphic microsatellites were used to genotype 69 Plasmodium vivax samples obtained from 39 patients detected over a period of two years who lived in a rural community of central Vietnam.

Findings highlight the need for context sensitive malaria control policies; not only to reduce the local malaria burden but also to minimize the risk of malaria spreading to other areas where transmission has virtually ceased.

Response by the authors to a recent commentary published in Malaria Journal.

Defining the trend in genotypes related to drug resistance is essential for the control of malaria in Vietnam.

However, there are many settings where knowlesi transmission to humans would be expected but is not found. A recent report on the Ra-glai population of southern central Vietnam is taken as an example to help explain why this may be so.