Infectious disease killed 3,102 people across the Chinese mainland from July through September, the Ministry of Health reported yesterday.

More than 1.4 million people were diagnosed with infectious diseases in the period. The top-five killers in the period were tuberculosis, rabies, AIDS, hepatitis B and encephalitis B, claiming about 2,760, the report said.

The ministry urged local health authorities to increase monitoring of cholera, as cases of the disease rose 275 percent year-on-year to 638.

(Shanghai Daily October 12, 2005)