China's efforts to contain rabies seem not to have taken effect yet as the number of people killed by the disease climbed slightly to 326 in October, China's Health Ministry reported in Beijing on Friday.

 

Rabies accounted for 46 percent of all fatalities caused by infectious diseases reported on the Chinese mainland in October, according to the ministry.

 

In September rabies caused 318 deaths. The country has recorded 2,254 rabies cases in the first nine months of the year, an increase of 29.69 percent over the same period last year.

 

The disease emerged as the top public health priority four months ago after it caused the deaths of three people in southwest China's Yunnan Province and local authorities in Yunnan and Shandong provinces sought to curb the risk through mass killings of dogs.

 

Campaigns to clamp down on stray dog were also launched in many other places including Beijing.

 

The Health Ministry has launched a program to conduct regular monitoring of rabies across the country to collect evidence and use it as a basis for drafting regulations that can effectively control rabies.

 

Rabies was followed by tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitis B and infant tetanus on the list of the most deadly infectious diseases in China.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 11, 2006)