Over 160 health workers from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao are being trained to eradicate pests and prevent diseases they carry spreading to humans, the Health Ministry said on Monday.

The training, organized by the National Committee for Patriotic Public Health Campaign, will seek to bolster the capacity of local health agencies to prevent and control vector-borne diseases, and illnesses leaping from pests to humans.

Trainees will be introduced to scientific ways to dispose of pests, including rats, mosquitoes, black beetles, lice and fleas, which combine in potential outbreaks of dengue fever, yellow fever and other infectious diseases.

The training will also address the cities' rapid response scenarios in case of animal-carried disease outbreaks during the Olympics.

"The prevention and control of pests will undoubtedly help the Olympics," said a ministry spokesman.

The Health Ministry also revealed that Beijing has begun a pest extinguishing campaign at all the city's gymnasiums and the athletes' Olympic village.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2007)