Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Not yet over the corona virus problem (Covid-19), China is again hit by a bacterial case. Thousands of people tested positive for Brucellosis infection caused by the Brucella bacteria in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province.
The Lanzhou Health Commission said 3,245 people had contracted the disease, which is often caused by contact with livestock carrying the Brucella bacteria.
Initially, there were only 1,401 positive victims, with no casualties reported. In total, the authorities tested 21,847 people out of the 2.9 million population of Lanzhou city, as reported by CNN International.
The Lanzhou Health Commission said the outbreak stemmed from a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical plant, which occurred between the end of July and the end of August 2019.
When producing Brucella vaccine for animals, this factory uses expired disinfectants and cleaners, so that not all bacteria are killed in the waste gas. Bacteria are also not killed in the factory exhaust fan.
This contaminated waste gas forms aerosols that contain bacteria and leaks into the air, being carried by the wind to the Lanzhou Animal Research Institute, where the outbreak was first reported.
Several people at the institute began reporting infections in November 2019, and transmission of the disease has rapidly increased. By the end of December 2019, at least 181 people at the institute had been infected with brucellosis, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
Other infected patients include students and faculty members of Lanzhou University; The outbreak even spread to Heilongjiang province, in the far northeastern tip of the country, where 13 positive people had previously worked at the veterinary institute in August 2019.
Months after the outbreak, provincial and city officials launched investigations of leaks at the factory. In January 2020, the authorities revoked the vaccine production license for the factory and revoked the product approval numbers for two of their Brucellosis vaccines.
A total of seven animal medicinal product approval numbers were also canceled from the factory.
In February 2020, the factory issued a public apology and said it had “severely punished” eight people held responsible for the incident.
They also said they would cooperate with local authorities on response and clean-up efforts, and contribute to a compensation program for those affected.
In its report, the Lanzhou Health Commission also announced that 11 public hospitals would provide routine and free check-ups for infected patients. However, the report does not provide additional details on compensation for patients.
Bacteria that Appear in Livestock
Brucellosis, also known as Maltese fever or Mediterranean fever, can cause symptoms including headache, muscle aches, fever and fatigue, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Although some of these symptoms may subside, some symptoms may become chronic or never go away, such as arthritis or inflammation of certain organs.
But the disease caused by Brucella bacteria generally occurs in livestock, such as cows, sheep, goats. Cases of human-to-human transmission are extremely rare. Conversely, most people become infected by eating contaminated food or inhaling bacteria. This seems to be the case in Lanzhou.
Brucellosis itself was common in China in the 1980s, although it has since declined with the advent of vaccines and better disease prevention and control.
However, there have been a few brucellosis outbreaks worldwide in the last few decades; An outbreak in Bosnia infected about 1,000 people in 2008, prompting the culling of infected sheep and other livestock.
In the US, brucellosis has cost the federal government and the livestock industry billions of dollars. About 60% of the female bison in Yellowstone National Park carry the bacteria, according to national park authorities.
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