China's Health Ministry said here Thursday that it has requested local health authorities to guard against possible outbreak of malaria and especially tighten disease-monitoring work in border areas between China and Myanmar.

By the end of July, China reported 80 imported malaria cases inSichuan Province, two of them fatal.

The Health Ministry said epidemiological investigation showed that the patients were all migrant workers returning from Yunnan, a province neighboring Myanmar, and they got infected with the disease at the China-Myanmar border.

Malaria is an infectious disease characterized by cycles of chills, fever, and sweating. The disease is caused by the parasitic infection of red blood cells by a protozoan of the genus,Plasmodium, which is transmitted by the bite of an infected femaleanopheles mosquito.

Plasmodium tests have been added into regular check-ups for fever patients, the Health Ministry said.

The ministry has also notified the quarantine inspection departments to tighten sanitation inspection to the personnel and vehicles at border ports and a regular information exchange mechanism has been set up between the two departments.

Source: Xinhua