IMPORTED MALARIA FROM ETHIOPIA - END OF AN ERA

The immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s resulted in t he importation of over 2,000 cases of malaria, a major challenge to cl inicians and public health officials alike. In contrast, in the massiv e airlift from Ethiopia in May 1991 and in the sporadic immigration th at followed it, malaria prevalence was extremely low, reflecting the r outing of the more recent immigrants through nonendemic areas. The dra matic fall in the appearance of new imported malaria cases should not lead to complacency, however, as malaria may still appear in Ethiopian s and other immigrants as well as in Israelis returning from regions o f the world where the disease is still highly prevalent. A corollary o f this caveat is that vigilance in finding and eliminating Anopheles b reeding places in Israel must not be allowed to falter.