During the first five years of the 1980s, epidemics occurred continuously in south Xinjiang and caused many deaths. Nobody knew the names of the epidemics, so they were identified as "No.1 disease," "No. 2 disease" and so on, according to the year the disease struck. In the end, people simply dubbed the epidemics "unknown illnesses."
"We doctors in Xinjiang all took turns at participating in treating patients in that area," said a 45-year-old former Urumqi Hospital doctor who now lives in Istanbul and asked that her name not be revealed. "We had never had such epidemics in our East Turkestan history."
This is part four of a seven-part series by Cao Chang-ching. Today's article was translated by Taipei Times staff translator Laura Lee.
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