Death toll from pig disease hits 38
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-08-04 15:25

One more person has died from a deadly pig-borne disease in southwest China's Sichuan province to bring the death toll from the outbreak to 38, reported AFP.

A farmer cleans out his pigs at a farm on the outskirts of Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province. One more person has died from a deadly pig-borne disease in southwest China to bring the death toll from the outbreak to 38.[AFP]

The number of cases had increased by one to 206, the Sichuan provincial health department said on its website late Wednesday.

Of these, 165 are confirmed to have the disease while 41 are suspected. Among the victims, 142 remained hospitalised and 18 are in critical condition.

Chinese officials have insisted that the disease is under control.

Authorities in Sichuan, where the disease was first discovered in June, have begun to manufacture large quantities of vaccine for swine, although no vaccines have yet been developed for humans, local media reported earlier.

All the victims were found to have had direct contact with sick or dead pigs. Experts say butchering and eating infected pork is the only way for humans to catch the disease.

The bacteria is endemic in Asia, North America and Europe, with the first recorded human case in Denmark in 1968. More than 200 cases of human infection have been reported globally since then, not counting the latest outbreak.

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