China - Heilongjiang officials monitoring 6+ veterinary student cases of brucellosis after contact with Lanzhou Institute patients - December 10, 2019

[sharon sanders]

Heilongjiang Health Commission notified some students of Brucella antibody

2019-12-10 19:33 At 17:00 on December 7, 2019, the Heilongjiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention monitored 6 cases of brucellosis diagnosed by the Provincial Agricultural Reclamation General Hospital through the direct reporting system of infectious disease network. All of them were students of the College of Veterinary Medicine (Hazard Research Institute), Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. After the epidemic situation was discovered, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government attached great importance to it. The Provincial Health and Health Committee immediately set up an expert group and went to the Provincial Agricultural Reclamation General Hospital and Harmony Research to conduct epidemiological investigation and epidemic disposal work overnight. As of 17:00 on the 10th, 13 people with Brucella antibody-positive reports related to the epidemic, including 1 confirmed case of brucellosis, 2 suspected cases, and 10 recessive infections.

An epidemiological survey showed that the 49 students who came to the clinic were from the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 37 of whom had short-term animal contact research work in the laboratory of the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute in August this year. Animal contact history, 13 cases were finally diagnosed. The other 12 students who had not worked in Lanzhou Animal Research Institute in August were not infected. Experts evaluated the outbreak as an imported one.

The Provincial Health and Health Committee has organized experts in infectious diseases and epidemiologists to observe all infected persons closely, conduct scientific research and judgement, and strengthen clinical treatment of confirmed and suspected cases. Conduct psychological counseling and health education for related personnel to avoid excessive panic.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease. The source of infection is mainly infected animals such as cattle and sheep. It is not contagious between people and will not cause the spread of the epidemic.

zhttp://www.sohu.com/a/359556753_260616

[sharon sanders]

Also please see:

China - 96 people in veterinary research institute diagnosed with brucellosis in Lanzhou, Gansu province - December 7, 2019

China - Shepherd diagnosed as a case of brucellosis in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province - November 8, 2019

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03863-z

17 December 2019
Chinese institutes investigate pathogen outbreaks in lab workers
Students and staff at two research institutes have tested positive to the Brucella bacterium, which can lead to serious complications.
David Cyranoski

Two Chinese agriculture research institutions are investigating how more than 100 students and staff became infected with the bacterium Brucella, strains of which are typically found in farm animals but can also trigger potentially fatal complications in people.

The Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute in central China confirmed on 7 December that 96 staff and students have tested positive for the infection. In a statement, the institute said most of the infected people are not experiencing signs of brucellosis, the illness caused by the bacterium, which can include fever and flu-like symptoms.

The institute says it has closed its labs following the outbreak. Although some mice have also tested positive to the infection, an investigation has yet to announce the strain of Brucella in the infected people, or the source of the outbreak...

[Shiloh]

Source: https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-01...101500500.html


Jan 03, 2020 06:09 AM
ENVIRONMENT
Fear of Brucellosis Outbreak Drains Holiday Cheer in Lanzhou
By Bao Zhiming, Ma Danmeng and Han Wei

Fears of an outbreak of highly contagious and hard-to-treat brucellosis drained the cheer out of New Year celebrations for residents of neighborhoods around a biopharmaceutical plant in northwest China’s Lanzhou city, Caixin learned.

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday morning, queues stretched tens of meters outside a lab of the Lanzhou No. 2 People’s Hospital as people waited for blood tests for the bacterial disease. The Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant is on the northeast periphery of Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province.

“(We are) very worried about the results and have no mood for the holiday,” a person in the queue giving only the surname Wu told Caixin.

Wu said his community is less than 100 meter away from the front door of the factory. A notice was posted on the community’s gate Dec. 27 advising residents to go for free brucellosis testing in designated hospitals and clinics in the city until Jan. 4, Wu said. Results of the tests are expected in one week, doctors at the hospital said.

Dozens of students and researchers at a veterinary research institute in Lanzhou tested positive for antibodies to the Brucella bacterium in early December, sparking fears of a brucellosis outbreak...

...The Gansu provincial public health authority confirmed Dec. 26 at a press briefing (link in Chinese) that 181 of 671 blood samples tested positive for brucellosis antibodies among staff members and students at the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, an affiliate of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, since late November. One person showed clinical symptoms.

Brucellosis spread in China in the 1970s and 1980s but has been effectively controlled. The country’s Law on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases lists the brucellosis as a class II infectious disease along with AIDs and SARS...

...Investigations found that the spread of the disease was caused by contaminated factory exhaust. Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant, a unit of China Animal Husbandry, used expired sanitizers while producing Brucella vaccines between July 24 and Aug. 20, according to the Gansu Provincial Health Commission at the Dec. 26 briefing. Officials of the factory haven’t commented.

Failed disinfections resulted in the bacteria entering the factory’s exhaust. This infected people working at the nearby Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, which was downwind from the factory, the authority said. Production at the plant was halted Dec. 7.

Without explaining the possible risks to nearby residents, officials said at the briefing that antibody tests will be carried out for residents of nearby areas. Public information showed that there are eight residential communities with a combined population of more than 10,000 located within 500 meters of the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant...