China's efforts to contain rabies seem not to have taken effect
yet as the number of people killed by the disease climbed slightly
to 326 in October, China's Health Ministry reported in Beijing on
Friday.
Rabies accounted for 46 percent of all fatalities caused by
infectious diseases reported on the Chinese mainland in October,
according to the ministry.
In September rabies caused 318 deaths. The country has recorded
2,254 rabies cases in the first nine months of the year, an
increase of 29.69 percent over the same period last year.
The disease emerged as the top public health priority four
months ago after it caused the deaths of three people in southwest
China's Yunnan Province and local authorities in
Yunnan and Shandong provinces sought to curb the risk
through mass killings of dogs.
Campaigns to clamp down on stray dog were also launched in many
other places including Beijing.
The Health Ministry has launched a program to conduct regular
monitoring of rabies across the country to collect evidence and use
it as a basis for drafting regulations that can effectively control
rabies.
Rabies was followed by tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitis B and
infant tetanus on the list of the most deadly infectious diseases
in China.
(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2006)