Encephalitis kills 17 in N. China city
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-08-11 19:17
TAIYUAN -- 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
Friday.
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.
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