Mysterious disease kills 17 in southwest China

BEIJING (Reuters) - Authorities in southwest China are investigating a mysterious disease that has killed 17 farm workers and left 41 others ill after they handled sick or dead livestock, state media said on Monday.

The government of Sichuan province has dismissed speculation that the deaths were caused by bird flu or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), an assessment affirmed by the World Health Organization.

"From the information we have it doesn't seem to be related to bird flu. We made that distinction based on the symptoms described to us by the government," Bob Dietz, a WHO spokesman in Manila, told Reuters by telephone.

"This (disease) doesn't seem to have a large pneumonia content or a large respiratory problem," Dietz said.

The deaths were probably caused by a bacteria that spreads among pigs, the state-run China Daily quoted Zeng Huajin, a senior official with the Sichuan provincial health department, as saying.

"Streptococcus suis (a pig pathogen) would fit the symptoms described to us, but we will wait for an analysis from the Ministry of Health," Dietz said.

SARS emerged in south China in 2002 and spread across 30 countries, infecting nearly 8,500 people and killing about 800.

It re-appeared in China last year but there were only a few isolated cases. The Chinese government was accused of initially covering up the disease.

Global health officials also have been on high alert over a bird flu virus that has killed over 50 people in Asia since late 2003.

Initially, 20 farm workers suffered fever, nausea and haemorrhaging after handling sick or dead pigs and sheep in 12 towns and 15 villages in Jianyang city and Ziyang city's Yanjiang district, the China Daily said.