The Chinese Ministry of Health Wednesday reported 1,023 death of infectious diseases nationwide last month but no serious outbreak in areas hit by the May 12 earthquake.

The figure was slightly up from 1,009 in July, said the ministry.

In August, 363,877 cases of A- and B-Class infectious diseases occurred and claimed 1.014 lives. Of the 138,879 cases of C-Class infectious diseases recorded, there were nine fatalities.

Except for plague, SARS, poliomyelitis, bird flu and diphtheria, the remaining 22 diseases in the A- and B-Class lists had reported cases.

The top five infectious diseases, accounting for 88.34 percent of the total cases of A and B-Class diseases, were tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diarrhea, syphilis and gonorrhea.

The top five killers, accounting for 92.7 percent of the total lives claimed by A and B-Class diseases, were AIDS which claimed 400 lives, rabies 213 lives, tuberculosis 200 lives, hepatitis B 73 lives and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis 54 lives.

Infectious diseases in China are classified into three categories by the country's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

Diseases, A-Class infectious diseases include only two diseases, namely plague and cholera, B-Class infectious diseases include 25 diseases such as viral hepatitis and C-Class infectious diseases include ten diseases such as influenza.

(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)