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BEIJING • Thousands of people in northwest China tested positive for a bacterial disease after a leak from a state-run biopharmaceutical plant that makes animal vaccines last year.
Health officials in Lanzhou City said 3,245 people had contracted brucellosis, a disease often caused by close contact with infected animals or animal products that can lead to fever, joint pain and headaches. Another 1,401 people tested early positive for the disease, and health officials said there was no evidence of person-to-person transmission so far.
Chinese authorities discovered that a biopharmaceutical plant had used expired disinfectant in its production of brucella vaccines for animals between July and August last year, meaning that the bacteria was not eradicated in the exhaust gases of its factory.
Contaminated gas from China’s Lanzhou Animal Breeding Biopharmaceutical Factory in Lanzhou formed aerosols containing the bacteria and was then carried by the wind to the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, infecting nearly 200 people there in December last year.
More than 20 students and faculty members of Lanzhou University, some of whom had been at the institute, also subsequently tested positive, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The Lanzhou health commission said yesterday that sheep, cattle and pigs were the most commonly involved in spreading the bacteria.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, person-to-person transmission of brucellosis is “extremely rare,” but some symptoms may return or never go away. These include recurring fevers, chronic fatigue, swelling of the heart, and arthritis.
The factory, which apologized earlier this year, had its production license for the brucellosis vaccine revoked, authorities in Lanzhou said.
Compensation for patients would begin in batches starting next month, according to local authorities.
FRANCE MEDIA AGENCY
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