bird and pig are problem in developping countries
Pig-Borne Illness Kills 24 in China Province
By REUTERS
Published: July 28, 2005
BEIJING, July 27 (Reuters) - The death toll in an outbreak of pig-borne disease in the southwest Chinese province of Sichuan has risen to 24, with an additional 117 people thought to be sick, state media reported on Wednesday.
Victims were being treated with antibiotics, but with the death toll mounting doctors said that approach was unsatisfactory.
"The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting drug sensitivity tests to find a more effective treatment," The China Daily quoted a Health Ministry spokesman, Mao Qunan, as saying.
Laboratory tests showed the affected people were suffering from streptococcus suis infections contracted from the slaughtering or handling of infected pigs.
The bacteria is endemic in swine in most pig-rearing countries in the world, but human infections are rare. Although state media have said no human-to-human infections have been found in the Sichuan outbreak, the death toll is unusually high.
The Sichuan mortality rate stands at 17 percent so far, higher than the usual 10 percent, experts in Hong Kong said. |
