17 die of encephalitis in north China city
12/8/2006 11:06
A total of 17 people have died from encephalitis B after being bitten by
mosquitoes in Yuncheng, a city in north China's Shanxi Province in the last two
weeks, local health authorities said yesterday.
The city's health bureau said
so far they have found at least 40 cases of the disease, including the 17
dead.
The disease is mostly epidemic in Yuncheng's counties of Linyi, Yongji
and Ruicheng along the Yellow River, said Lu Shuanguo, deputy head of the
bureau.
The official said most of the encephalitis B sufferers are people at
the age from 50 to 70 and few children have been found to be infectious.
Six
experts from China Disease Prevention and Control Center, sent by China's
Ministry of Health, arrived at Yuncheng on Friday, seeing the patients and
collecting some sample of the virus for investigation.
They are working with
the Shanxi Provincial Health Department on urgent measures to prevent the spread
of the deadly disease, according to local sources.
Encephalitis is an
inflammation of the brain that can occur at any age and is usually the result of
a viral infection. It may begin with a flu-like illness or a headache.
xinhua
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