China Bacteria Outbreak Worsens, Dead Pigs Dug Up

The number of people infected by what Chinese authorities believe is a pig-borne bacterial disease in the southwest has jumped by 14 to 131, state media said on Thursday as officials insisted the outbreak could be controlled.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was watching developments closely, but a spokesman said the disease appeared to be localised and posed no threat internationally.

China’s Ministry of Health said the death toll in rural eastern Sichuan province had risen to 31, the official Xinhua news agency said.

“We have the technology and procedures to bring the disease under control,” the China Daily quoted an unidentified ministry official as saying on Wednesday.
Reuters via Netscape News