An outbreak of hepatitis A in a middle school in Bobai County of
south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has sent 112
students to hospital, a local official said yesterday.
All of the students have been identified as carriers of the
disease, while 21 have been diagnosed as suffering from symptoms of
Hepatitis A and 33 others are suspected of coming down with the
disease, said Gong Jian, head of the Guangxi center for disease
control and prevention.
Gong said contaminated drinking water is the main cause of the
outbreak.
A well in the school, the main supply of drinking water for
students, was contaminated possibly by a drainage ditch only five
meters away, according to Gong.
Students also washed faces and rinsed mouths with water
channeled from springs at mountains nearby.
Tests have found that colon bacillus in water from the well and
springs were above the set standard, according to Gong.
Besides, the accommodation condition of students is rather poor
with normally 20 students sharing one dormitory. The school's
canteen was in operation without the health certificate.
The junior middle school in Bobai County has 1,438 students
including some 1,000 boarders.
The first case was found on November 23 and the outbreak spread
on December 6, according to the official.
A team of doctors has been vaccinating staff and students of the
school after the 121 students were quarantined. They have also
sterilized toilets, canteen, dormitories and classroom to stop
further infection.
Gong said the outbreak is now under control.
In August, an outbreak of hepatitis A knocked down 69 high
school students in Guangxi.
Local epidemic prevention station's tests showed that all the
water quality in the five wells that provide drinking water for the
Guangxi school was far from meeting the standards for safe drinking
water set by the government.
Hepatitis, or inflammation of the liver, is caused by infectious
or toxic agents and characterized by jaundice, fever, liver
enlargement, and abdominal pain.
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2006)