Better Not Eat Pork in China
Pig disease claims 40th human life in China
A pig-borne disease has claimed a 40th human life in China, and the first in southern Guangdong province, days after the government said it had brought the disease under control elsewhere.
Three other people in Guangdong were also found to be infected with the streptococosis suis bacteria, provincial health bureau Wei Jiafen said.
"The lone fatality occurred in Yangjiang (city)," he told AFP.
All the other fatalities from the disease were recorded in Sichuan province, further west, which also has about 200 infections.
The latest announcement came two days after the nation's health and agricultural ministries said the outbreak in Sichuan province had been brought under control.
All the victims from Sichuan were found to have had direct contact with sick or dead pigs or infected pork. It was not clear how the Guangdong infections were spread.
Medical teams have been sent to the affected areas in the province to investigate the cases and help locals take protective measures, Xinhua news agency reported.
The provincial government also mobilized health and agriculture departments to take emergency measures to prevent the disease from spreading, it said.
No new human cases have been reported in Sichuan province since August 6. Twenty people there remain hospitalised with the disease.
Nowhere in the world have more people been struck down by the streptococcus suis bacteria -- which usually affects pigs, not humans -- since the first human case was recorded in Denmark in 1968.
China's central government has ordered local governments across the country to tighten supervision of pork markets and has banned the butchering, transport and sale of dead or sick pigs to prevent the disease from spreading.
At least eight government officials were sacked for failing to prevent farmers from butchering sick pigs or fabricating reports saying infected pigs had been disposed of hygienically, Xinhua said.
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