Beijing, September 18
Amid the Covid-19 outbreak, now several thousand people in northwest China have tested positive for brucellosis, a bacterial disease, authorities recently confirmed.
The brucellosis outbreak was caused by a leak at a biopharmaceutical company last year. According to media reports, the disease, also known as Malt fever or Mediterranean fever, can lead to symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches, fever, and fatigue.
While these may go away, some symptoms may become chronic or never go away, such as arthritis or swelling in certain organs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Person-to-person transmission is extremely rare, according to the CDC. Instead, most people become infected by eating contaminated food or breathing in the bacteria, which appears to be the case in Lanzhou.
According to CNN, the Health Commission in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, confirmed that 3,245 people had contracted the disease, which is often caused by contact with cattle carrying the brucella bacteria.
Another 1,401 people tested positive in the preliminary test, although no deaths have been reported, the city’s Health Commission said Tuesday.
In total, authorities have examined 21,847 people out of the city’s 2.9 million residents.
This outbreak was due to a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory, which occurred between late July and late August last year, according to CNN.
While producing Brucella vaccines for animal use, the factory used expired disinfectants and disinfectants, meaning that not all bacteria were eradicated in the waste gas, according to the report. IANS
