CHENGDU, Aug. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Short latent period and multi-organfailure are ultimate causes for the higher-than-expected mortality rate of the pig-borne disease in southwest China's Sichuan Province, a health specialist has said.

    "Most patients suffered failures in the kidneys, livers, lungs and heart shortly after they were contracted and some of them died before timely treatment," said Chen Zhihai, head of the expert panel sent by Ministry of Health to the endemic-hit regions.

    The latent period of the disease is so short that some patients died within 10 hours after infection, he said in an interview with Xinhua Thursday. "In one case, a man died two hours after slaughering a sick pig."

    In comparison, it normally takes a week or two for ordinary bacterial infection to break out, he said.

    "On the other hand, the disease was caused by Streptococcus suis II, the deadliest of all the 35 forms of pig-borne Streptococcus suis bacteria," he added.

    Chen said antibiotics is effective in tackling the bacteria, but not after it has led to multi-organ failures -- which are largely to blame for the high morality rate of the disease.

    "The mortality rate was particularly high in the early phase ofthe outbreak, as many patients took it for cold or flu," said Chen.

    Earlier symptoms of the disease are similar to those of flu, with high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, but many patients became comatose shortly afterwards and had bruises under their skin.

    China is making all out efforts to curb the outbreak of the pig-borne disease and reduce its mortality and has stepped up research on the bacteria that rarely hit the country in the past.

    A team of intensive care experts from Beijing are currently in Sichuan to provide emergency treatment, including antibiotic treatment, tracheotomy and venipuncture.

    The Sichuan provincial government has allocated 10 million yuan(about 1.2 million US dollars) so far to ensure the timely treatment of the patients.

    The endemic broke out in late June, first in Ziyang and Neijiang, and later spread to 10 cities including Jianyang and theprovincial capital Chengdu.

    Ministry of Health disclosed the disease had claimed 38 lives in the province by mid-day Wednesday, and the number of confirmed and suspected cases had risen to 165 and 41 respectively. Enditem