| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is one of the countries where vivax malaria had been successfully eradicated by the late 1970s. However, re-emergence of vivax malaria in South Korea was reported in 1993. Several epidemiological studies and some genetic studies using antigenic molecules of <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>in the country have been reported, but the evolutionary history of <it>P. vivax </it>has not been fully understood. In this study, the origin of the South Korean <it>P. vivax </it>population was estimated by molecular phylogeographic analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A haplotype network analysis based on <it>P. vivax </it>mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences was conducted on 11 <it>P. vivax </it>isolates from South Korea and another 282 <it>P. vivax </it>isolates collected worldwide.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The network analysis of <it>P. vivax </it>mtDNA sequences showed that the coexistence of two different groups (A and B) in South Korea. Groups A and B were identical or close to two different populations in southern China.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the direct introduction of the two <it>P. vivax </it>populations in South Korea were thought to have been from North Korea, the results of this analysis suggest the genealogical origin to be the two different populations in southern China.</p>
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