Thirty-eight people in a school in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have been
confirmed to have hepatitis A and 30 others are suspected of
contracting the disease, said local health authorities Monday.
The number of the confirmed and suspected cases announced by the
health authorities was 36 and 27 respectively two days ago.
One hundred and eleven students and a canteen worker in Fengshan
Town No. 2 Middle School in Bobai County have been identified as
carriers of hepatitis A, said Xu Zhangneng, head of the Bobai
health bureau. According to Xu all the patients and those suspected
of contracting the illness are in local hospitals and in stable
condition. "Some 58 of the hospitalized are getting better after
treatment," Xu said.
The other infected students now have lessons in separate
classrooms while uninfected must remain on campus for further
observation to avoid any further spread of the illness, officials
said.
All the 1,438 students and staff at the school have been
inoculated to contain the spread of the disease as the incubation
period of the virus lasts 15 to 30 days, said Xu. Initial
investigations show contaminated drinking water is the main cause
of the outbreak. The first case was diagnosed on November 23 and
the outbreak spread on December 6.
A well in the junior middle school, the main supply of drinking
water for students, was contaminated possibly by a drainage ditch
only five meters away. Students also washed their faces and rinsed
mouths with water channeled from nearby mountain springs. Tests
have found that colon bacillus in water from the well and the
springs were above the set standard, according to Gong.
The accommodation for students is poor with 20 students sharing
one dormitory and the school's canteen was in operation without a
health certificate. Local health authorities have sterilized
toilets, canteen, dormitories and classrooms to stop further
infection.
In August an outbreak of hepatitis A afflicted 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 19, 2006)
