Chinese pharma leak infects thousands with bacterial disease, Brucellosis, Sept 2020

[dotr]

Chinese pharma leak infects thousands with bacterial disease
September 18, 2020
''Thousands of people in northwestern China have tested positive for brucellosis, a disease that commonly infects livestock, after a pharmaceutical factory accidentally vented bacteria into the air last year, officials say.

At least 3,245 people have contracted the disease in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, according to a statement from the city’s health commission. More than 1,000 are suspected to have the disease. No fatalities have been reported since the problem was first identified last November.

The latest numbers are much higher than initially thought, the state-run Global Times reports.

Authorities have traced the leak back to the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory, which was found to be using expired sanitizers and disinfectants. The factory accidentally vented an aerosolized version of Brucella, the bacteria that causes brucellosis, into the air last summer, causing it to spread across the surrounding area through the wind.''

 

[dotr]

September 17, 2020

A microscope view of the brucella bacterium responsible for brucellosis, also known as Malta fever.
September 17, 2020
China brucellosis: Bacterial outbreak infects thousands after Lanzhou factory leak - CNN
''The disease, also known as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever, can cause symptoms including headaches, muscle pain, fever and fatigue. While these may subside, some symptoms can become chronic or never go away, like arthritis or swelling in certain organs, according to the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).''

''Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare, according to the CDC. Instead, most people are infected by eating contaminated food or breathing in the bacteria -- which seems to be the case in Lanzhou.''

''While producing Brucella vaccines for animal use, the factory used expired disinfectants and sanitizers -- meaning not all bacteria were eradicated in the waste gas.
This contaminated waste gas formed aerosols that contained the bacteria -- and leaked into the air, carried by wind down to the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, where the outbreak first hit.
People at the institute began reporting infections in November, and it quickly accelerated. By the end of December, at least 181 people at the institute had been infected with brucellosis, according to Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.
Other infected patients included students and faculty members of Lanzhou University; the outbreak even spread to Heilongjiang province, at the very northeastern tip of the country, where 13 positive cases had worked in the veterinarian institute in August, Xinhua reported at the time''

 

[dotr]

Everything you should know about Brucellosis outbreak in China, the disease that can leave men infertile
''While the world continues to suffer from the coronavirus pandemic that is said to have originated in China, an outbreak of another disease called Brucellosis has infected over 3000 people in north-east China.''

''A report in South China Morning Post quoted Zhu Guoqiang, a professor at Yangzhou University’s College of Veterinary Medicine saying that in serious cases, brucellosis could cause lasting damage to the reproductive system. "If not treated properly, men can become infertile," he said.

Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare, according to the CDC. Instead, most people are infected by eating contaminated food or breathing in the bacteria -- which seems to be the case in Lanzhou.''

 

[WilsonS]

Thank you for sharing this! I have not heard anything about this until now.