Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Thousands of people in Northwest China have tested positive for the bacteria after the leak last year at a laboratory for a state-owned pharmaceutical factory that produces animal vaccines.
About 3,245 people were infected brucellosis in Lanzhou city. This infectious disease is caused by bacteria Brucella which generally occurs in livestock, such as cattle, sheep, goats and causes joint pain and headaches.
Chinese authorities say the factory’s laboratory used expired disinfectants in vaccine production from July to August 2019. The bacteria were not killed in exhaust fan (air sucker) laboratory.
As a result, there is contaminated gas to form aerosols that contain bacteria. Blown away by the wind, the gas arrived at the Lanzhou Animal Research Institute and infected nearly 200 people there in December last year.
“More than 20 students and faculty members at Lanzhou University, some of whom have been to the institute, have also later tested positive,” wrote AFP, quoting the Xinhua news agency, Sunday (20/09/2020).
Authorities have revoked the brucellosis vaccine production license at the factory. Patients, Lanzhou authorities said, will also be compensated from October.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), contagion brucellosis from person to person is very rare, but some of the symptoms of this disease may recur or never go away, including fever and chronic fatigue. The worst is the swelling of the heart or arthritis.
(wia / wia)
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