The infection rate of food-borne parasitic diseases has risen
dramatically in the country in the past 10 years, health officials
said Monday.
In particular, incidences of liver fluke infections, a prevalent
food-borne parasitic worm, has increased by 75 percent over the
same period, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of
Health throughout China's 31 provinces and autonomous regions from
June 2001 to 2004.
It is estimated that more than 12 million Chinese have been
infected with liver fluke through food, and have gone on to develop
hepatic distomiasis, a liver disorder.
South China's Guangdong
Province, the Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region and northeast China's Jilin
Province have the highest rates of hepatic distomiasis,
recording a 182, 164 and 630 percent increase respectively compared
with a similar survey conducted from 1988 to 1990. Guangdong is
home to almost half of the nation's hepatic distomiasis
patients.
"Food-borne parasitic disease is a growing threat to public
health and an outstanding issue for food safety," said Hao Yang, an
official with the Health Ministry's Disease Control and Prevention
Division.
The survey attributed the increasing incidence of liver
fluke-induced diseases to people's growing penchant for
raw food.
More and more people have developed a taste for raw seafood,
especially those living in coastal regions. For example, raw fish
salad, a kind of sashimi, is a common food for people living on the
coast.
Liver fluke found in seafood can cause severe distomiasis in
human beings, said Xu Longqi, a researcher with the National
Institute of Parasitic Disease under the Chinese Center for Disease
Control and Prevention.
Symptoms of the disease include diarrhea and liver cirrhosis, he
added.
Eating raw or semi-raw pork and beef can also trigger the spread
of parasitic diseases, as has been proven by the high rates of
infections in southwest China's Yunnan
Province, where such food is popular.
Local residents in Dali and Simao in Yunnan, for example, enjoy
eating raw pork, which provokes infection, said Xu.
However, land-borne parasitic diseases that infect human beings
are well under control, said Hao.
On a national level, the infection rate of this kind of
parasitic disease is 63.65 percent lower than that for food-borne
diseases.
In 1990, there were 536 million patients with nematodiasis. By
the end of 2004, this figure had dropped to 136 million.
Incidences of hookworm, roundworm and whipworm, the more common
land-borne parasitic diseases, are in sharp decline, said Xu.
"Rural hygiene campaigns have helped eliminate the worms, and
lower the infection rate," said Hao.
(China Daily May 17, 2005)