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BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese
ministries of health and agriculture said Sunday the swine virus infection that
took place in southwest China's Sichuan Province has been identified and brought
under control.
According to a report released Sunday by the two
ministries, there has been no extra cases of human infection reported since Aug.
4.
It says the disease in Sichuan, which erupted in "a
number of" poor, remote rural areas in the province, was caused by a kind of a
swine virus known as streptococosis II.
The report, known as Evaluation of the Epidemic
Situation of Streptococosis in Sichuan Province, was based on lab checks and
epidemic investigations.
The channel through which the virus spread has also
been identified, according to the report.
The infection has been reported by the ministries to
the World Health Organization, the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and
health authorities of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
A total of 204 cases of human infection of the virus
were reported as of the noon of Aug. 4, says the report.
No extra case has been reported in the past 16
consecutive days from Aug. 4 to 20.
The 204 cases include 38 deaths, 20 people still
hospitalized, and 146 discharged from hospital, according to the report.
Previous media reports said the patients came from 75
villages in 40 townships in cities and counties including the cities of Ziyang
and Jianyang, the counties of Lezhi and Zizhong in Neijiang City.
All the patients had direct contact with ill or dead
pigs before showing symptoms, said experts.
The patients first reported symptoms of fever,
weakness and sickness, and then got symptoms of endemic bleeding and shock.
Judging from the symptoms and tests of the dead pigs,
experts reached the preliminary conclusion that the disease was caused by swine
streptococosis II.
Swine streptococosis was first spotted in the 1950s
and has been reported in many countries including France, Denmark, the United
States and Canada. Enditem | 
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