Death toll from encephalitis B rises to 19 (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-08-12 19:13
YUNCHENG, Shanxi -- The death toll from an outbreak of encephalitis B, has
risen to 19, with 38 people infected in Yuncheng City of Shanxi Province, the
local health authorities said on Saturday.
The city reported the
summer's first case of encephalitis B on July 13, said the city's disease
prevention and control center.
Encephalitis B causes an inflammation of
the brain that can be contracted by people of all ages. It is usually the result
of a viral infection passed to humans by mosquitoes. The illness begins with
flu-like symptoms and severe headaches.
Nine out of the 13 counties of
the city, which has a population of 5 million, have reported cases of
encephalitis B, said the center.
The patients are receiving treatment in
hospitals of Yuncheng and Yongji cities and Linyi County.
Among the 12
patients who are being treated at the No. 2 Hospital of Yuncheng, eight are in
serious condition and doctors are trying to save their lives, said Zhang
Dinglin, deputy head of the hospital.
The Shanxi Provincial Health
Department has allocated 400,000 encephalitis B vaccines to Yuncheng, which had
only 20,000 vaccines on hand, said Wang Jinsheng, deputy director of the center.
The vaccines will be allocated to different counties according to the
severity of the epidemic, Wang said.
The vaccinations will be given away
free but people will be charged three yuan (0.37 U.S. dollars) to administer the
injection, according to Wang.
The people in Yuncheng are being told in a
media blitz to clean up their neighborhoods by sweeping away pools of standing
water in which mosquitoes can breed. Yunchang's hot weather and frequent
rains have provided ideal conditions for mosquitoes to breed. As temperatures
drop next month so will the number of cases of encephalitis, said Feng Lizhong,
an official with the Shanxi Provincial Health Department.
Six experts
from the China Disease Prevention and Control Center (CDPCC), dispatched by
China's Ministry of Health, arrived at Yuncheng on Friday. They have visited
patients and collected samples of the virus for laboratory analysis.
The
team of experts are working with the Shanxi Provincial Health Department on
urgent measures to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.
Over 80
percent of the victims found in the city are people over the age of 30, said
Liang Guodong, leader of the team of experts and director of the virus research
institute of the CDPCC.
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