Reuters AlertNet Lite - Flu sufferers break records in chilly China capital

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Flu sufferers break records in chilly China capital

08 Jan 2007 09:53:49 GMT
Source: Reuters

BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Cold and flu sufferers in China's freezing capital have hit record highs in many hospitals this winter, Xinhua news agency said on Monday, putting part of the blame on smog.

Of the 2.3 million patients registered in 67 hospitals since the a municipal disease monitoring system was launched at the beginning of September, 2.4 percent were flu sufferers, Xinhua said.

"The number of patients with flu or colds has doubled in many Beijing hospitals, breaking records," Liu Zejun, director of the Beijing Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention, was quoted as saying.

But an increase in flu and colds in December and January was normal, and the rise did not mean an "explosion", Liu was quoted as saying.

A sharp drop in temperature and recent thick "dirty" fog were the main reasons for the rise in cases, Xinhua said, citing a hospital doctor.

China has become the world's top emitter of acid rain-causing sulphur dioxide, with emissions rising 27 percent from 2000 to 2005, mostly from coal-burning power stations. Pollution in Beijing is compounded by heavy use of use of coal for cooking and heating, automobile exhaust fumes and construction dust.

China's Ministry of Health in November urged local governments to be on alert for SARS and human cases of bird flu and to strengthen prevention against epidemics as winter approached.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the symptoms of which are similar to those of flu, first emerged in China's southern Guangdong province in 2002, and the country is at the centre of the fight against the H5N1 bird flu virus, with dozens of animal outbreaks and 21 human cases since 2003.

SARS spread as far afield as Canada before it was brought under control in 2003. It killed close to 800 people out of the 8,000 known to have been infected.

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Last updated:Mon Jan 8 09:54:45 2007