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The number of people dying from malaria in China doubled, despite the gradual decline of malaria cases as a whole, an official said. According to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, malaria killed 30 people in China last year, an increase of 100 percent from 15 cases in 2010. That comes as the total number of malaria cases in 2011 declined 44 percent to 4,158. "Over the past decades, the country has indeed made some achievements in controlling malaria. Now the incidence of malaria has entered historically low levels," said Yang Weizhong, deputy director of the center. "But at the same time, another problem is being seen in recent years as more and more imported malaria cases have been reported," Yang said at a seminar about imported malaria prevention in Shanghai on Thursday, the country's fifth Malaria Day. According to the center, 1,398 cases of pernicious malaria or falciparum malaria, the most deadly form of the disease, were reported in the country last year, an increase of 19.8 percent over 2010. Among them, 97.7 percent were caused by people infected in other countries and returning to China. Those patients are generally adult males who had been in Africa and Southeast Asia, the center said. Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease, with parasites transmitted through the mosquito's saliva, and often causes symptoms of fever and headache. The disease, widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including Africa and Southeast Asia, can lead to hallucinations, coma and death. | 
