Official figures show 390,418 people contracted serious infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland during July, the Ministry of Health revealed yesterday.
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| A hygienic inspector checks the water quality of a swimming pool in Anhui, East China's Hefei Province. The picture is taken on July, 24, 2005. [newsphoto] | A watch on 27 specific diseases last month recorded 754 deaths from 23 diseases, including three deaths from anthrax.
Under Chinese law, reports on the situation regarding 27 serious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, anthrax, rabies, TB and hepatitis should be made public every month.
The anthrax outbreak, which has so far infected 114 people, affects Southwest China's Guizhou Province, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Northeast China's Liaoning and Jilin provinces.
According to the Ministry of Health, the three patients who died had all been in close contact with infected horses or cows.
From July 29 to August 5, a total of 12 anthrax cases, including one death, had been identified in two villages in Liaoning Province.
These localized outbreaks are now under control, according to a statement released by the Liaoning health authority.
Infections from livestock to humans are relatively common and cases appear in China every year, mainly in Qinghai, Yunnan, Gansu and Liaoning provinces and Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions, the ministry said.
There are three forms of anthrax which can affect the skin, digestive system or lungs
Experts warned the disease can appear just like a cold, and is curable if treated early.
The pig-borne Streptococcus suis disease which has so far killed 39 people in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, is not included in the list of 27 diseases which must be reported by the ministry.
When compared to the total number of reported infectious diseases, Streptococcus suis is not a very serious threat in China, said Liu Xia, an official from the Communicable Disease Prevention and Management Division of the Ministry of Health.
Of the 27 kinds of infectious diseases which are reported, there were no reported infections or deaths from polio, SARS, avian influenza, or diphtheria.
The top five killers were TB, rabies, HIV/AIDS, Type-B encephalitis, and hepatitis B.
They killed 221, 209, 107, 57 and 51 people respectively, accounting for at least 85 per cent of the total deaths.
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