152 People Infected

China Pig Disease
　

China Completes Gene Sequence of Deadly Pig Bacteria

　

Chinese scientists have completed genetic sequencing of the bacteria which is confirmed the ultimate cause of a strange pig-to-human infection, that had killed 27 people in southwest China's Sichuan Province by Wednesday.

 

The gene sequencing test shows the bacteria, streptococcus suis, has exactly the same gene sequence in sick pigs and humans, said Xu Jianguo, an epidemic prevention expert with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Starting from July 19, researchers from the center have separated the bacteria from sick pigs as well as the blood and spleen samples of villagers stricken by the strange disease, Xu said.

 

Xu and his colleagues are carrying out further research to study how closely the bacteria from pigs and human is genetically correlated in order to find molecular biological evidences of how the disease spreads from pig to human.

 

By Wednesday noon, the number of people infected with the bacteria had reached 131, 14 more than the day before, Ministry of Health said.

 

Although most cases were reported in the cities of Ziyang and Neijiang, six towns in other parts of Sichuan reported six human infection cases Wednesday, according to a statement from the ministry.

 

Leading veterinary experts and officials have moved to dispel public fear, saying China has the technology to control the outbreak, which poses no permanent threat to either livestock breeding industry or human beings.

 

"We have the technology and procedures to bring the disease under control," Thursday's China Daily quoted a Ministry of Agriculture official, as saying.

 

The official said, under anonymous condition, that China had developed pig vaccines.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2005)

　

 　

152 People Infected With China Pig Disease
Posted on Friday, July 29 @ 02:25:32 PDT by Intellpuke

 　 　

China's Health Minister Gao Qiang

     China says pig disease 'under control' as death toll rises; WHO disagrees (detail)

  
　

The number of people infected by what Chinese authorities believe is a pig-borne disease in Sichuan province has risen by 21 to 152, the Hong Kong Health Department said, citing information from the mainland government.


The official Xinhua news agency said that 31 people had died from the disease while another 27 were in critical condition.


The World Health Organization (WHO) said that clinical diagnosis of the disease in Sichuan seems to be consistent with past outbreaks, but admitted it was puzzled by the high number of people falling ill.


The victims in China were infected with the bacteria from slaughtering, handling or eating infected pigs, authorities have said.


Concern in Hong Kong also grew on Friday after the city's government said that a local man had recently contracted the same disease. The city of nearly seven million people on China's southern coast gets most of its food from the mainland.


The 26-year-old interior decorator infected with Streptococcus suis had not been to China recently and had no contact with pigs or raw pork, the government said in a statement late on Thursday. He was admitted to hospital on July 5 and discharged on July 12. Authorities are investigating how he contracted the disease.


Nine other people in Hong Kong have also contracted the same disease since May last year.


Chinese officials have insisted that the outbreak could be controlled in Sichuan and agreed to a Hong Kong government request to send a team of experts to Sichuan province to join the investigation.

China's Minister of Health Gao Qiang arrived in Sichuan on Thursday to inspect the prevention and control of the pig-borne epidemic, the official Xinhua news agency said.


Authorities in Sichuan suspended exports of chilled and frozen pork to Hong Kong earlier this week as a precaution, but the Hong Kong's government has insisted there is still no evidence to support a ban on pork imports from the region, angering many legislators.


Streptococcus suis, known in layman's terms as swine flu, is endemic in swine in most pig-rearing countries in the world but human infections have been relatively rare. Although China's state media has said no human-to-human infections have been found in Sichuan, the death toll is considered unusually high.


The high mortality rate and reports that many of the victims died within 24 hours of showing symptoms have led some experts to wonder if it is swine flu at all.

The disease is not known to have ever been passed between humans, but scientists fear it could mutate into a strain that could easily pass among people. Compounded with its deadliness, such a bug could unleash an epidemic, killing many people.

Intellpuke: "If the disease in Sichuan province, and now apparently in Hong Kong, isn't swine flu then what is it? Avian flu or something new? Potentially, lots of lives could be at risk and because of this I think China needs to open up a lot more and let the WHO's experts into Sichuan as well.

You can read this Reuters article in context, here.

 　 　 　

BEIJING : China's Health Minister Gao Qiang has insisted a mysterious outbreak of a pig-borne disease is "under control" despite a rising death toll and case-load, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) disagreed.

"So far, the epidemic has been under preliminary control," Gao said in a statement on the ministry's website after visiting patients in southwest China's Sichuan province, where the outbreak was discovered in June.

The death toll rose to 31 and the number of people affected increased to 152 by noon Thursday -- four more deaths and 21 more cases than the day before, according to the ministry. Twenty-seven people were in critical condition.

WHO spokesman Bob Dietz, however, said it was too soon to declare the epidemic contained.

"It's too early to call it under control because there are new cases and new deaths," Dietz said. (more)

　
　 　 　

Pig bacteria blamed for 19 mysterious deaths (early report)

BY Zhang Feng Updated:2005-07-26 08:42

　

The mysterious deaths of 19 farmers in Southwest China's Sichuan Province were caused by Streptococcus suis, a bacteria carried by pigs, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

　　By noon on Sunday, 80 cases, 67 confirmed and 13 suspected, had been reported, according to a ministry statement.

　　Since the disease was found in humans about one month ago, the bacteria has killed 19. At the moment 17 patients are in a critical condition in hospital.

　　After an emergency investigation, a group of experts organized by the ministries of health and agriculture confirmed the epidemic was caused by the bacteria which can be passed to humans from pigs.

　　Experts found that the farmers infected had all slaughtered or processed infected pigs.

　　The official investigation result dispels concerns that the outbreak was avian influenza or SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

　　The cases were scattered among 75 villages in four districts of Ziyang and Neijiang cities.

　　No human-to-human infection has been found, the ministry statement said, adding that the disease has a latency period of two to three days.

　　Those infected develop acute symptoms such as high fever, listlessness, vomiting and bleeding from vessels beneath the skin.

　　About half of patients also go into severe shock, and the death rate of the disease is quite high, investigating experts said.

　　Four people infected during the current outbreak have recovered and been released from hospitals.

　　Central and local government officials are working on an epidemic analysis, identifying patients, destroying infected pigs, eradicating contagious channels and treating patients.

　　Farmers have been forbidden from slaughtering and processing infected pigs.

　　In normal practice, meat-processing factories examine pigs from big farms or single households before they buy them. When they refuse a pig because it is infected, sometimes the farmer will take it home and process it for consumption by his own family.

　　It is rare for the bacteria to infect a human being. The first ever recorded case was in Denmark in 1968, the ministry said.

　　Records show that at least 200 human cases of the infection have been reported, mainly in countries and regions breeding pigs and eating pork in Northern Europe and Southern Asia.

　　Experts are researching how the bacteria spreads from pigs to humans, said ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an.

　　Mao said he doubted reports that the bacteria can be spread through mosquito bites.

　　"If so, there would be many more people infected with the disease," Mao told China Daily.

　　Hong Kong and Macao health authorities have warned residents to be careful of mosquito bites if they go to Sichuan.