The death toll on Chinese mainland from an atypical pneumonia
outbreak reached at least 34 from November to February, mostly in
South China's
Guangdong
Province, health officials clarified Wednesday.
Previously, only seven deaths were reported in Guangdong.
By
late February, 680 cases of atypical pneumonia had been diagnosed
in Guangzhou and 24 patients had died, said a spokesman with the
Health Bureau of Guangdong.
Beijing municipal health bureau also revealed Wednesday that three
patients had died in the capital.
Despite the deaths, notable progress has been made in controlling
and treating the disease, the Guangdong health bureau spokesman
said.
Seventy-five percent of patients suffering from atypical pneumonia
had recovered and been discharged from hospital thanks to effective
medical treatment, he said.
The first case of atypical pneumonia in Guangdong occurred in
Foshan on November 16. After that more cases were found in the
cities of Heyuan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Shenzhen and Zhaoqing.
Altogether 112 people reportedly contracted the potentially fatal
respiratory disease in the six cities. Of the total, seven
died.
"The epidemic has been brought under full control in the six cities
and no fresh cases have been reported in those areas since February
15," said the spokesman.
In
Guangzhou, the provincial capital, the first cases of atypical
pneumonia were reported in late January and the infection rate
reached its peak in early February.
But the number of fresh cases has dropped drastically this month,
he noted.
Meanwhile, health authorities in Beijing said they have managed to
contain the atypical pneumonia outbreak.
Among the eight who have been hospitalized this month, seven were
from the northern province of Shanxi
and one was infected in Hong Kong and returned to Beijing for
treatment, a health bureau spokesman in the Chinese capital said.
One had recovered and been discharged from hospital.
The city has set up an epidemic monitoring network, and is capable
of dealing with emergencies and ensuring public health, he
said.
In
a related development, the World Health Organization (WHO) for the
first time has linked the pneumonia outbreak on the Chinese
mainland to a mystery flu-like illness that has hit other countries
on three continents.
World health officials said the symptoms of the illness in China
and the way it had spread seemed the same as severe acute
respiratory syndrome, which has brought illness to nearly 500 and
killed 19 worldwide.
(China Daily March 27, 2003)