Chinese Mystery Illness Linked to Pigs

By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 25, 2:04 PM ET

A mystery disease that has killed 17 farmers who handled sick pigs or
sheep in China's southwest is unrelated to bird flu or SARS and is
probably caused by bacteria carried by pigs, state media reported
Monday.

An additional 41 people were hospitalized in Sichuan province with
symptoms that include high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and
"became comatose later with bruises under the skin," the official
Xinhua News Agency said. It said 12 were in critical condition.

The illness likely stems from streptococcus suis, a bacteria that is
usually spread among pigs, provincial health official Zeng Huajin was
quoted as saying by the China Daily newspaper.

"I can assure you that the disease is absolutely not SARS, anthrax or
bird flu," Zeng said. He did not elaborate on how the illness spread
to humans, saying more research needed to be done.

A spokesman for the World Health Organization said the symptoms
reported "seem consistent" with streptococcus suis.

"We don't think we've seen numbers on this scale before, but it might
be because of a heightened surveillance system," said Bob Dietz, a
spokesman for the World Health Organization in Manila. "Of course we
are concerned anytime we have a situation like this. We will continue
to watch it closely."

China is sensitive to such public health threats after criticism of
its handling of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which emerged in
2002. The government was widely criticized for its slow response to
pleas for information about the disease, which killed nearly 800
people worldwide before subsiding in July 2003.

China also is trying to contain an outbreak of avian flu in its west,
where thousands of migratory birds have died in recent weeks.

Dietz said China has so far kept WHO informed "in a timely manner"
about the outbreak that killed the farmers. WHO headquarters in
Geneva was awaiting laboratory results before it would speculate on
what the disease might be.

A man who answered the phone at the Sichuan health bureau on Monday
said 17 people have died from the mystery illness and two have
recovered. He refused to give his name, saying only that the cause of
the deaths was under investigation.

A woman who answered the phone at the Ziyang No. 1 People's Hospital,
where most of the patients were being treated, hung up when asked
about the cases.

The last major pig-borne epidemic occurred in Malaysia, where 265
people were infected with the Nipah virus between 1998 and 1999. Some
105 people died and nearly a million hogs were slaughtered before the
outbreak was controlled. The virus is capable of infecting a variety
of animals and is lethal to about 50 percent of human patients,
causing encephalitis.

The Chinese ministries of health and agriculture sent a team to
Sichuan last week to help investigate, treat and control of the
outbreak, the China Daily said.

Xinhua said medical experts believe the illness in Sichuan "is not
spreading further among humans," and that there were "no obvious
signs of (an) epidemic."

Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post newspaper said the patients were 30
to 70 years old, and one was a woman.

The son of one victim told Hong Kong's Cable TV said his father fell
ill after slaughtering a pig and eating some of the meat. The names
of the son and victim were not given.

Also Monday, two supermarket chains in Hong Kong stopped the sale of
frozen pork from Sichuan as officials sought to assure the public the
disease did not pose a threat to the territory.

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press.