Four more cases of a pig-borne endemic were reported in southwest China's Sichuan Province by Friday noon, but no death was reported, according to the Chinese Ministry of Health.

With 11 patients discharged from hospital on Friday, 134 people are still in hospital for medical treatment and 14 of them are in critical condition, the ministry said. 

 

By Thursday, a total of 644 pigs had been killed in the endemic of swine streptococosis in Sichuan, with three new deaths reported, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday.

  

Thanks to the joint effort made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Council and relevant departments at all levels, the number of pigs killed daily has been decreasing, the ministry said.

  

The endemic has been controlled effectively, the ministry said.

  

The endemic broke out in late June, first in Ziyang and Neijiang, and later spread to ten cities, including Jianyang and Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, the country's No.1 pig production base.

  

Local departments have taken forceful quarantine measures to avoid further human infection, ordering rural people not to slaughter, sell or eat any pigs killed by the disease. Some compensation has been given to farmers that have buried dead pigs according to the governmental requirement.

  

In addition, Hong Kong Director of Health Lam Ping-yan said on Friday that the chances of an outbreak of "pig fever" in Hong Kong are slim.

  

Lam said there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission in the Sichuan Streptococcus suis ("pig fever") outbreak, according to the feedback provided by Hong Kong experts helping investigate the outbreak.

  

However, as they can only provide an account of what they have witnessed so far, investigations are ongoing and could lead to a different conclusion.

  

Lam said the government will monitor the situation closely even though chances are low of an outbreak in Hong Kong.

 

Center for Health Protection specialist Chuang Shuk-kwan, who took part in the investigations, said all the evidence collected so far showed the infections were caused by Streptococcus suis.

  

She said most patients developed symptoms after having close contact with pigs and early use of appropriate antibiotics can effectively treat the disease. 

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2005)