Infectious diseases killed 897 people nationwide in November, China's Health Ministry said yesterday.

The figure was slightly down from that in October, which recorded 1,041 deaths, and no serious outbreaks were reported in the areas hit by the May 12 earthquake including Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces, the ministry said.

In November, some 290,000 cases of A and B class infectious diseases were reported, claiming 884 lives. AIDS, rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B and hemorrhagic fever were the top five killers, accounting for 94 percent of the deaths, it said.

Of the 138,000 cases of C class infectious diseases recorded, 13 were fatal.

A total of 46 cases of cholera occurred in China's coastal Hainan Province in November. No deaths were reported and the situation is under control, the ministry said.

Plague and cholera are categorized as A class infectious diseases, the most serious, in accordance with China's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

B class infectious diseases include diseases such as viral hepatitis and C class infectious diseases include influenza.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2008)