Travel to malaria-endemic areas and imported malaria cases in France increased in 1996. To obtain a representative sample of imported malaria, five "sentinel" hospitals sent all of their Plasmodium isolates in 1997. In total, 593 isolates from 58 hospitals in mainland France were received by the National Reference Center for Malaria Chemoresistance (CNRCP) and the Institute of Tropical Medicine of the Armed Forces Health Service (IMTSSA). Plasmodium falciparum was identified in 536 strains. Data from the CNRCP and the IMTSSA indicate that in 1997, chloroquine resistance in imported malaria remained stable in the regions from which the majority of the received isolates originated. (adapted from the text)