BEIJING - The Ministry of Health will soon send experts to Central China's Henan province to assist epidemic control work, as an infection from tick bites has killed 18 people there in the past three years.

The 18 victims were among 557 reported cases of suspected human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) since May 2007, when the infection began to be reported to the ministry, said Xu Bianli, deputy head of the Henan provincial center for disease control and prevention (CDC).

Provincial officials were quoted as saying on Wednesday that the death toll from the disease was two.