The captain of earthquake area's disease control and prevention team Liu Jianjun described the operation of disease prevention steps in Mao County as follows: toilets built near water sources have been closed; nearby relief sheds are moving; outdoor market foods have been banned; rubbish around living quarters has been cleared away; water supplies have improved with increasingly use of water supply trucks; and disinfection tasks have been carried out. The general hygienic situation has improved and quarantine areas have been set up for immediate use.

A professional member of the disease prevention staff disinfects everyone coming from the epicenter area of Yinxiu town as they stand on a temporary pier near Zipingpu reservoir in Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province on May 18.

According to the disease control and prevention team, the Mao County disaster relief headquarters, under the instruction of relevant specialists, had taken into consideration the disease control guidelines concerning water supplies, toilets and waste disposal while planning temporary relief housing for victims. Such practices are now widely applied in earthquake hit towns.

The disease prevention and relief team, along with local disease control staff have been conducting a public hygiene survey along the highway from Mao County to Beichuan County since May 18. The survey found that local clinics generally lack medicine and disinfectants. Therapeutics, disinfectants and various kinds of medical equipment are all urgently needed.

Professionals have called for the resumption of the infection reporting system in villages as soon as possible. Transportation and communications difficulties must be overcome so that reports regarding infection and possible epidemics can be done on a weekly basis, if not more frequently. The disease control staff should join hands to evaluate the disaster situation and work out a practical proposal for epidemic prevention.

Many experts are worried that the current relief workers are overextending themselves, lowering their vitality and resistance to diseases and germs; it's possible that some will succumb to colds and flu and other ailments.

Feces and waste matter are scattered everywhere due to a lack of toilets. Experts have suggested building toilets in high places and forming "healthy care teams" to collect organic waste. Relief staff members also need enough medicine to prevent disease among themselves.

Disinfectant expert Zhang Liubo also pinpointed the inadequacy of current disinfecting levels. Some corpses still lie on the ground decomposing; they attract swarms of flies and grieving people who sit beside the dead can easily become infected. These decomposing bodies must be disposed with as soon as possible.

Pickles made on the previous night caused 22 teachers and students in Mao County Middle School to vomit convulsively on May 18. Disease control personnel immediately administered treatment and destroyed the remaining pickles.

Experts asserted that infection-reporting systems must go into effect so that disease control staff can deal with any cases of food poisoning before they become problematic. In addition, plague outbreaks can also be prevented if an infected patient's information is recorded and physical analysis is done daily.

In order to make the infection reporting system more effective, an expert working for the Mao County emergency relief team has trained 40 staff members, including clinicians and symptom test reporting helpers from four different districts.

(China.org.cn by Wu Huanshu, May 21, 2008)