Update: malaria, U.S. Armed Forces, 2011

U.S. service members are at risk of malaria when they are assigned to endemic areas (e.g., Korea), participate in operations in endemic areas (e.g., Afghanistan, Africa) and visit malarious areas during personal travel. In 2011, 124 service members were reported with malaria. Nearly three-fourths of cases were presumably acquired in Afghanistan (n=91) and one-fifth were considered acquired in Africa (n=24). One-quarter of cases were caused by P. vivax and one-fifth by P. falciparum (including 6 Afghanistan-acquired infections); most cases were reported as "unspecified" malaria. Malaria was diagnosed/reported from 51 different medical facilities in the United States, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iraq, Germany and Korea. Providers of care to military members should be knowledgeable regarding and vigilant for clinical presentations of malaria outside of endemic areas.