Originally published September 8 2005
Deadly pig-borne illness spreads to China's far south
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A deadly pig-borne illness called Streptococcus suis bacterium, which originated in Southwest China, has now killed one person and infected three butchers in the far southern part of the country.
China's far south is on high alert after one person was killed and three were infected by a pig-borne disease that has killed nearly 40 in the southwest, suggesting dangerous meat is being traded across the country.
The latest victim of the disease, caused by the Streptococcus suis bacterium, had handled infected pork, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.
The three infected patients, all butchers, also likely had contact with tainted meat.
"The Shenzhen patient was engaged in cutting and transporting frozen pork and chicken, while the other three were all butchers," Xinhua said on its English Web site, www.chinaview.cn, citing a report from the Shenzhen Daily.
Shenzhen is a booming special economic zone just over the border from Hong Kong, the heart of a region hit by a series of health scares, from SARS and bird flu to poisoned eels.
The other infections were found in three areas of surrounding Guangdong, though Xinhua said in a separate report that no cases had been found among pigs in the province.
The central government said on Monday it had the disease under control in Sichuan province, the epicentre of the outbreak and China's top pork-producing region.
To contain the bacterium and other animal-borne diseases, China must focus more on animals, Henk Bekedam, a World Health Organization representative for China, told Reuters.
Most of the more than 200 people who have contracted the pig-borne bacterium became sick after slaughtering, handling or eating infected swine.
Strict quarantine controls had been put in place to prevent infected pork from getting out.
Earlier this month, China sealed off a farm in far-western Tibet and inoculated poultry within a five-km (three-mile) radius after discovering an outbreak of bird flu, believed to be a strain that has killed more than 50 people across Asia and led to the deaths of some 140 million birds.
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