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BEIJING: More than 6,000 people in Lanzhou, the capital of northwest China’s Gansu province, tested positive for a bacterial disease called brucellosis, the local government said, in an outbreak caused by a leak at a vaccine plant during a year. make.
The government has tested 55,725 people in the city, of whom 6,620 are positive for brucellosis as of now, the Lanzhou government said at a press conference, according to a report Thursday by state-run Global Times.
That is a huge jump from 3,245 positive brucellosis cases as of Sept. 14.
READ: Thousands in China test positive for bacterial disease after a biopharmaceutical plant leak last year
Humans contract brucellosis with flu-like symptoms through direct contact with infected animals, by eating or drinking contaminated animal products, or by inhaling agents in the air, according to the World Health Organization. Some symptoms can become chronic and never go away.
According to a statement from the Lanzhou Health Commission dated September, the outbreak originated from a biopharmaceutical factory owned by China Animal Husbandry Industry.
The factory used expired disinfectants during July to August 2019 to make brucellosis vaccines, leaving the bacteria in its contaminated waste gas, it said, citing the results of an official investigation.
The contaminated waste gas then formed aerosols, which were carried by the wind to the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, where the outbreak was first recorded in November last year, the health commission said.
The brucellosis vaccine production workshop closed in December last year and was dismantled in October, according to the Global Times.
