Beijing: A new outbreak of animal origin is back in China. This time doctors diagnosed more than 3,000 people in Gansu Province, China with a bacterial disease known as brucellosis.
The National Health Commission (NHC) in Lanzhou said health workers tested nearly 22,000 people in the city for the disease and 3,245 came back positive. The epidemic broke out after a leak at a biopharmaceutical company.
“There are no deaths associated with the outbreak,” NHC Lanzhou was quoted as saying CNN, Friday, 18 September 2020.
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Brucellosis is a bacterial infection that can be transmitted by humans after coming into contact with or drinking milk from cattle infected with brucella. This disease, also known as Maltese fever or Mediterranean fever, can cause symptoms including headache, muscle aches, fever, and fatigue.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that although these symptoms may subside, some symptoms can become chronic or persist, such as arthritis or inflammation of certain organs.
“Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare,” according to the CDC.
Instead, most people become infected by eating contaminated food or inhaling bacteria, as seems to have happened in Lanzhou.
The NHC said the outbreak stemmed from a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical plant, which occurred between late July and late August last year. When producing Brucella vaccine for animals, the factory uses expired disinfectants and cleaners which means that not all bacteria are killed in the waste gas.
Currently, the biological pharmaceutical factory that produces the Brucella vaccine has had its license revoked. Among those infected are employees at the Lanzhou Animal Research Institute, which is located near the site of the leak, and students and faculty members at Lanzhou University.
(FJR)
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