Fourteen students from Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who were thought to have contracted hepatitis A during an outbreak in this east China college, were discharged from hospital on Wednesday after several days of medical observation.

But about 15 classmates are still hospitalized because the local hospital still cannot completely rule out the possibility that they were infected with the disease.

As of Wednesday, 64 students from the university had contracted hepatitis A with no new infectious case reported in the past 24 hours, said Pu Zhilong, emergency office director of Jiangxi Provincial Health Department.

The official said all the hepatitis A patients are in a stable condition.

A preliminary investigation showed that the outbreak might have been caused by two university canteen workers, who were hepatitis A carriers, Pu said, adding that further investigation is in progress.

The provincial health department has provided free vaccinations for over 2,000 students from the university, said Liu Hongning, president of the university.

Medical workers will supervise the disinfection of the patients' dormitories as well as public places on campus, Liu said.

The Jiangxi Provincial Health Department said some students from the university's suburban Wanli branch campus, in the province's capital Nanchang, began to feel a loss of appetite and dwindling strength on Sunday.

The department also said there might be more cases on campus because hepatitis A is highly infectious and its incubation period lasts 15 to 30 days.

The provincial health department has already triggered public health emergency plans and an anti-hepatitis A working team has been set up, headed by vice Governor Hu Zhenpeng.

Provincial, city and district level health departments have been mobilized to prevent the spread of the disease.

Thirty-eight people in a school in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region also have hepatitis A and 30 others are suspected of coming down with the disease, said local health authorities on Monday.

An initial investigation suggests contaminated drinking water is the cause of the outbreak. The first case was found on Nov. 23 and the outbreak spread on Dec. 6.

The students' main supply of drinking water -- a well in the junior middle school -- may have been contaminated by a drainage ditch only five meters away.

In August, an outbreak of hepatitis A affected 69 high school students in the same region.

Hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, is caused by infectious or toxic agents and characterized by jaundice, fever, liver enlargement, and abdominal pain.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2006)