'Pig disease' may be spreading between humans
CHINA - Vaccines to combat a deadly pig-borne disease were flown to south-western China on Sunday, where the spread of the rare illness has already killed 36 people and infected 198.
The unusually high numbers of people infected by the swine disease has led scientists to speculate that it may be being spread from human-to-human - or that another disease entirely is to blame.
Streptococcus suis type II, although relatively common in swine, spreads to humans extremely rarely, and the size and virulence of this current outbreak, in the province of Sichuan, has taken the World Health Organization by surprise.
The Chinese government responded on Sunday by airlifting the first batch of a vaccine for the infection – enough to treat 360,000 pigs – from the southern city of Guangzhou to the affected towns. The vaccine’s manufacturers say they will be producing enough vaccine to treat 10 million pigs in the coming days – but vaccines take three weeks to produce immunity in the pigs.
Source: newscientist.com
full story
The unusually high numbers of people infected by the swine disease has led scientists to speculate that it may be being spread from human-to-human - or that another disease entirely is to blame.
Streptococcus suis type II, although relatively common in swine, spreads to humans extremely rarely, and the size and virulence of this current outbreak, in the province of Sichuan, has taken the World Health Organization by surprise.
The Chinese government responded on Sunday by airlifting the first batch of a vaccine for the infection – enough to treat 360,000 pigs – from the southern city of Guangzhou to the affected towns. The vaccine’s manufacturers say they will be producing enough vaccine to treat 10 million pigs in the coming days – but vaccines take three weeks to produce immunity in the pigs.
Source: newscientist.com
full story
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