Chinese officials fired for pig disease cover-up
CHINA - Four officials have been sacked for trying to cover up the trail of dead pigs early in an outbreak of a swine-borne disease that has killed 39 people in southwest China, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
The officials, all from near Neijiang in Sichuan province, had fabricated reports and deceived inspectors and reporters tracing the spread of the Streptococcus suis bacteria, Xinhua said on its English Web site, www.chinaview.cn.
More than 200 people have contracted the disease in Sichuan from slaughtering, handling or eating infected swine.
After 78 pigs died in Zizhong county in mid-July, the head of the county animal husbandry and food bureau and three colleagues wrote a report falsely claiming all the dead swine had been safely buried or their whereabouts were unknown and they lied to investigators and state television reporters, Xinhua said...
Physicals suggested for pig slaughters, transporters
CHINA - Health experts in Guangdong has suggested conducting physical checkups on pig slaughters and transporters to find potential patients of a pig-borne epidemic that killed nearly 40 people.
At a health forum held Saturday by the provincial health department and Zhongshan University, also known as Sun Yat-sun University, experts with the provincial center for disease prevention and control (CDC) advised the provincial forestry and health departments to carry out the checkups, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported. The report did not explain how the potential patients could be singled out.
The experts said sick pigs should be collectively slaughtered and buried to avoid possible human infections, as learned from Hong Kong's collective slaughtering of sick ducks and chickens during bird flu outbreaks. They also said hygiene should be improved at pig stys and chicken farms while regular vaccinations should be conducted on the animals.
Pig Disease Toll Increases to 39
CHINA - On August 6, two new infections of Streptococcus suis and one new death were reported in Sichuan province, China. The number of human infections has risen to 214 cases and the death toll has hit 39.
According to China News Agency, Sichuan’s Health Department announced two new cases of Streptococcus suis. Pi county in Chengdu city and Pengzhou city each had one case diagnosed at a clinic.
Shuangliu county in Chengdu city reportedly had one new death who was originally in critical condition. The statement revealed a total of 214 cases, including 44 cases diagnosed by a laboratory, 131 diagnosed at a clinic, and 39 suspected cases. Among the 214 infections, 39 have died, 58 were cured and released from the hospitals, and 117 are in the hospitals with 12 still critically ill.
Source: theepochtimes.com
All three articles available at:
http://www.thepigsite.com/Thanks for the heads up EBH ;-) amazing the levels of deciet that exist in China, it is not even safe to accept this version of events.
I do think that Strep suis is emerging in China this year it may be the result of opportunistic environment that is causing the emergence of this virulent strain of Strep suis. The porcine population is under stress form influenza outbreaks with high mortality, this could account for this atypical Strep suis outbreak. However this is a result of negligence within China's health ministry of that there is no doubt.