Chinese authorities halted exports of pork products from two cities in southwest China, where a disease linked to pigs has killed 19 people and left 61 others ill, the
Hong Kong government said.
Pork products from the cities of Ziyang and Neijiang in Sichuan province were suspended as a precautionary measure, the
Hong Kong Health Department said in a statement late Monday. China is the world's biggest pork producer.
Initial lab tests in China suggest those affected were suffering from streptococcus suis infections related to the slaughter or handling of infected pigs, it said. The bacteria is endemic in swine in most pig-rearing countries, and human infections are possible, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The symptoms displayed by those infected include acute fever, headaches and dizziness, according to China's Health Ministry. The more serious cases can cause meningitis and send a patient in a coma, it said. The ministry said on its Web site that it hasn't detected any human-to-human transmissions.
Virus Concerns
Chinese authorities also are stepping up surveillance of registered export pig farms, the health ministry statement said. The Chinese government earlier balked at speculation that the latest deaths in the southwest were caused by bird flu or SARS.
The World Health Organization has been on alert over bird flu since late 2003. The illness has killed more than 50 people in Asia, particularly in Vietnam and Thailand. China has been trying to contain an outbreak of avian flu in the west.
The Chinese government said it has reported the pig-related infections to the World Health Organization, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, and the health authorities of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau. Residents in Sichuan province have been urged not to slaughter or process sick pigs to prevent the spread of the disease, the Beijing-based ministry said in a statement on its Web site Monday.
Pork Epidemics
Those infected came from 75 villages in 40 townships, the Chinese statement said.
The last major pig-related epidemic occurred in Malaysia, where 265 people were infected with the Nipah virus from 1998 to 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some 105 people died and almost a million pigs were slaughtered. The virus is capable of infecting different animals and is lethal to about 50 percent of human patients, causing encephalitis.
In Hong Kong, authorities sought to assure the public the pig disease in China didn't pose a threat to the city. Two supermarket chains in
Hong Kong have stopped the sale of frozen pork from Sichuan.
Pig bacteria blamed for 19 mysterious deaths
The mysterious deaths of 19 farmers in Southwest China's Sichuan Province were caused by Streptococcus suis, a bacteria carried by pigs, the Ministry of Health said Monday.
By noon on Sunday, 80 cases, 67 confirmed and 13 suspected, had been reported, according to a ministry statement.
Since the disease was found in humans about one month ago, the bacteria has killed 19. At the moment 17 patients are in a critical condition in hospital.
After an emergency investigation, a group of experts organized by the ministries of health and agriculture confirmed the epidemic was caused by the bacteria which can be passed to humans from pigs.
Experts found that the farmers infected had all slaughtered or processed infected pigs.
The official investigation result dispels concerns that the outbreak was avian influenza or SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
The cases were scattered among 75 villages in four districts of Ziyang and Neijiang cities.
No human-to-human infection has been found, the ministry statement said, adding that the disease has a latency period of two to three days.
Those infected develop acute symptoms such as high fever, listlessness, vomiting and bleeding from vessels beneath the skin.
About half of patients also go into severe shock, and the death rate of the disease is quite high, investigating experts said.
Four people infected during the current outbreak have recovered and been released from hospitals.
Central and local government officials are working on an epidemic analysis, identifying patients, destroying infected pigs, eradicating contagious channels and treating patients.
Farmers have been forbidden from slaughtering and processing infected pigs.
In normal practice, meat-processing factories examine pigs from big farms or single households before they buy them. When they refuse a pig because it is infected, sometimes the farmer will take it home and process it for consumption by his own family.
It is rare for the bacteria to infect a human being. The first ever recorded case was in Denmark in 1968, the ministry said.
Records show that at least 200 human cases of the infection have been reported, mainly in countries and regions breeding pigs and eating pork in Northern Europe and Southern Asia.
Experts are researching how the bacteria spreads from pigs to humans, said ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an.
Mao said he doubted reports that the bacteria can be spread through mosquito bites.
"If so, there would be many more people infected with the disease," Mao told China Daily.
Hong Kong and
Macao health authorities have warned residents to be careful of mosquito bites if they go to Sichuan.
