Re: China: Officials say source of cholera outbreak overseas
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_10760616.htm
Official: Cholera outbreak in southwestern China under control
www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-04 09:49:30 Print
BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- All 47 people struck down during a cholera epidemic last month in Yuxi city of southwestern China's Yunnan Province have fully recovered, a provincial official said in Yuxi Monday.
The outbreak in Tonghai, Huaning and Jiangchuan counties on Jan. 18 led to 20 confirmed cases of cholera, with 27 people also found to be carrying the cholera virus, Chen Juemin, director of the provincial health department, said at a press conference in Yuxi.
"No deaths were reported," Chen was quoted by Wednesday's China Daily as saying, adding that the epidemic had now been brought under control.
Chen said all 47 patients had been among the 585 villagers who attended a funeral feast in Tonghai from Jan. 15 to 17.
Around 3 am on Jan. 18, the first patient, surnamed Li, 73, was admitted to a local hospital suffering diarrhea, and was followed by another two later that day, the director said.
On the morning of Jan. 21, the Yuxi center for disease control initially diagnosed vibrio cholera O139 type, confirming the infection the following day, Chen said.
After the reported outbreak, all 585 who attended the feast, along with those who had come into immediate contact with them, were isolated.
Local police also closed infected areas, while the local health department checked the health of 8,561 villagers, the government said.
Investigators found that 26 of the 585 people at the feast had traveled abroad and visited high-risk cholera areas last November, with one of those identified as carrying the disease having done the cooking for the feast.
The local health authorities believe the virus was brought to China by those tourists.
Gao Jinsong, mayor of Yuxi, appealed for calm during the press conference and urged residents to pay close attention to food safety.
Lu Lin, director of the local center of disease control, also warned villagers to avoid crowded places and drink only clean water.
Cholera is a severe intestinal infection that has a short incubation period, Lu said, adding that if not treated immediately it can kill.
In October last year, an eight-year-old girl died of cholera during an outbreak in Hainan Province, where 46 cases were reported.
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China: Officials say source of cholera outbreak overseas
Source: http://www.china.org.cn/china/news/2...t_17218336.htm
Officials say source of cholera outbreak overseas
Yunnan Province has confirmed 20 cases of cholera and identified 27 other people as carriers of the disease, the local health authority announced at a news conference on February 2.
The outbreak began in mid-January at Sizhai Village in Tonghai County following a funeral dinner attended by 585 people. On January 18, the host of the dinner, a Mr Li, was sent to hospital suffering from diarrhea. Two other villagers were hospitalized shortly afterwards.
Two of the cases were later confirmed as O139 cholera.
Subsequently cases turned up in two other counties. The epidemic has so far affected a total of 47 people; 20 cholera cases and 27 healthy carriers.
The 47 have fully recovered after a period in quarantine. Health officials say the outbreak is under control and that there have been no fatalities.
But Lu Lin, a health official at the Yunnan Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, warned that further outbreaks are likely.
"Firstly, cholera is highly infectious and difficult to control; secondly, many people attended the funeral dinner and they are more than likely carriers," said Lu. "Moreover, the affected areas are rural districts where water and sanitation conditions are generally poor."
The health official said the source of the cholera outbreak was most probably not indigenous, since 26 villagers in the affected areas had recently travelled to overseas countries known to be infected, and there had been no previous cases of O139 cholera in Yunnan.
(China.org.cn by He Shan, February 3, 2009)
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