The first batch of pig vaccines have been sent to southwestern China, where 34 farmers have died of a swine-borne disease, state-media said yesterday.
The vaccines, enough for 350,000 hogs, were sent on Sunday from a company in Guangdong Province to Sichuan Province, the China Daily newspaper said. It said a larger shipment is due to arrive later so that up to 10 million pigs can be inoculated.
Officials have reported a total of 181 confirmed or suspected human cases in Sichuan linked to the bacteria streptococcus suis, which has swept through dozens of villages and towns.
One case of the disease has also been reported in Guangdong Province. In Hong Kong, two infections have been reported since the latest outbreak.
Health officials have not made it clear whether any of the cases are related to the Sichuan outbreak. The infected in Sichuan have been farmers who handled or butchered sick pigs and developed symptoms including nausea, fever, vomiting, and bleeding under the skin. No transmissions between people have been reported.
Fears had been building that the epidemic was a re-emergence of SARS or avian influenza. Beijing has sought to reassure the public that it was doing its best to prevent the spread of the disease.
In Ziyang, Sichuan, where human cases were first found, compulsory vaccinations for streptococcus suis in pigs will be enforced, An Weining, director of the local animal husbandry department, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.
The World Health Organization warned that the outbreak could be caused by more than one bacteria.
"We cannot discount that there might be other factors here. Another bacteria, another virus, some sort of toxic substance or something happening in the environment," spokesman Bob Dietz said in Manila. "We have to keep an open mind, it's not been resolved yet."
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS