(Xinhua) Panama and Costa Rica launched a health campaign on their common border to prevent the transit of people infected with malaria, said a Panamanian official on Monday.
As part of the campaign, 3,000 people have been tested for malaria, most of them Panamanian workers on Costa Rican coffee farms, said Patricio Camarena, Control Coordinator of the Panamanian Health Ministry.
None of the blood tests, which began on Sept. 9, have returned positive. There have been no registered cases of malaria this year, he said.
According to the Ministry, 17 cases were detected in this region last year, and 85 cases in 2008.
The effort by the authorities of Panama and Costa Rica is in response to the warning about a possible outbreak in the region from the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies.