PAJU, South Korea: Near the strongly fortified borders that divides North and South Korea, a tracking system is working 24/7- no tracking missiles or troop movements, but catching malaria-carrying mosquitoes that does cross the border.
Despite its superior medical assistance and decades of established efforts, achieving “malaria-free” standing has remained elusive for South Korea, mainly thanks to its proximity to the secluded North, where the disease is common.
The South issued a global malaria notice this year, and scientists say climate change, particularly cooler springs and heavier rainfall, may take more mosquito-borne diseases to the peninsula unless the two Koreas, which remain physically at war, cooperate.
The core issue is the Demilitarized Zone ( DMZ), a 4km-wide no man’s land that runs the full length of the 250km border.
Since it was established in 1953 following the ceasefire that put an end to the Korean War hostilities, the DMZ is generally unvisited by people and is covered in lush forests and wetlands.
An Asian black bear was photographed in 2018 in the heavily collected border barrier area, which has since become an natural refuge for rare species. According to scientists, this area is also a great breeding ground for mosquitoes, including those who can fly as far as 12 kilometers.
The DMZ has stagnant water and “plenty of wild animals that serve as blood sources for mosquitoes to feed on in order to lay their eggs,” according to Kim Hyun-woo, a staff scientist at Seoul’s Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
South Korea once believed it had eradicated malaria, but in 1993 a soldier serving on the DMZ was discovered to have been infected, and the disease has persisted ever since, with cases up nearly 80 per cent last year to 747, from 420 in 2022.
According to Kim Dong-gun, an environmental biology professor at Sahmyook University in Seoul,” the DMZ is not an area where pest control can be carried out.”
More malaria carriers are “feeding on soldiers in the border region, leading to a continuous occurrence of malaria cases there,” he said as mosquito populations rise.
The South Korean health authorities have installed 76 mosquito-tracking devices nationwide, including in key areas near the DMZ.
” DISEASE REPUBLIC”
North of the border, malaria is more widespread, with World Health Organization data indicating nearly 4, 500 cases between 2021 and 2022, with the country’s extreme poverty and food insecurity likely exacerbating the situation.
” North Korea is a republic of infectious diseases”, Choi Jung-hun, a former North Korean doctor who defected in 2011 and now works as a physician in the South, told AFP.
Choi claimed to have treated malaria patients, including a North Korean soldier who had been based close to the South, despite having resided in the north of the nation.
According to Choi, outdated equipment like outdated microscopes prevent early and precise malaria diagnoses, while malnutrition and unhygienic water puddles and facilities make residents especially vulnerable to the disease.
The North’s recent severe flooding could only worsen things. In Pakistan, severe flooding in 2022 caused a five-fold increase in malaria cases annually.
” North Korea continues to rely on dated communal outdoor showers. Consequently, when floods occur, fecal water overflows, resulting in the swift spread of ( all kinds of ) infectious diseases”, Choi told AFP.
” SO PAINFUL”
Official figures indicate that in the past ten years, around 90 % of South Korea’s malaria patients were infected in regions close to the DMZ, although uncommon cases have occurred in other areas.
Shin Seo-a, 36, received a diagnosis of malaria in 2022 after spending time in a hospital with persistent high fevers. Previously, she had not traveled to a border region that year.
She described the time period before getting ill as” I have no memory of being bitten by any insects.”
It took around 10 days before she was finally identified with the mosquito-borne disease and doctors initially assumed she had a kidney infection.
Having malaria felt like” I was being stir-fried on a really hot pan”, she told AFP, saying it was so painful that in tears, she “once even begged the nurse to just knock ( her ) out”.
Malaria on the Korean peninsula is brought on by the parasite Plasmodium vivax, which is less fatal than tropical malaria brought on by Plasmodium falciparum, which is common in many African nations.
Even so, after contracting malaria, Shin developed Nontuberculous mycobacteria, a lung disease that typically affects individuals with a weakened immune system.
” Malaria is a truly terrifying disease”, she told AFP, adding that she hoped more could be done to prevent its spread.
But with the nuclear-armed North declaring Seoul its “principal enemy” this year and cutting off contact, as it rejects repeated offers of overseas aid, cooperation on malaria looks unlikely.