China educates farmers on pig-borne disease
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-07-30 11:33

Sichuan province in southwestern China has launched a campaign to educate farmers to take precautions against a pig-borne disease which has killed 32 people and infected 163, Reuters reported.

About 50,000 health workers and officials have been sent to the Ziyang area to inspect and register every pig, state edia said, and they have set up 39 temporary roadside quarantine stations to stop dead pigs from reaching markets.

The affected areas have been sealed off, human and vehicle traffic strictly controlled, and the government has urged scientists to work on a vaccine for the disease, Agriculture Minister Du Qinglin has said.

Authorities say victims were suffering from Streptococcus suis bacteria, an infection contracted from slaughtering, handling or eating infected pigs.

The disease, first reported in Ziyang and nearby Neijiang, has spread to Chengdu itself and four other cities in Sichuan and one case has been reported in the southern province of Guangdong near Hong Kong.

Sichuan, the country's top pork-producing province, has been forced to suspend all exports of chilled and frozen pork from Ziyang and Neijiang to Hong Kong.

Pork is China's favourite meat and the country consumes more of it than anywhere else in the world.