Today, COVID-19 might barely exist in China, in the nation it originated from, but it is wreaking havoc throughout the world, affecting millions of people every day -- directly or indirectly.?
However, while it's partying hard today, several thousand people in the northwest region of China have tested positive for a dangerous bacterial disease.
The Health Commission of Lanzhou has confirmed that 3,245 people have contracted the bacterial disease brucellosis. To the uninitiated, the bacterial disease originates from animals/ livestock carrying the bacteria in their body. However, the commission hasn’t reported any fatalities caused by this disease.?
Brucellosis is also commonly known as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever. Most common symptoms include headache, muscle pain, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, fever and weight loss. In some cases, people are also known to develop stomach pain and cough. Usually, the disease is treated with antibiotics.
Not really, according to the CDC, the transmission of the disease from one human to the other is rare. It only spreads by inhaling bacteria-infected air or consuming contaminated food, something that could have happened in China too.
The origin for the current outbreak in China is being linked to a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory that occurred around July last year. The facility was at the time producing brucellosis vaccines at the time. However, due to negligence by factory workers, they were using expired disinfectants. This caused the waste gas spreading in the region to not be filtered appropriately and infecting everyone who breathed this air.?
The outbreak first broke in Lanzhou Veterinary Institute where people from the facility started reporting infections with over 180 cases surfacing by December. It spread further in regions and that’s when the Lanzhou Health Commission investigated and found the cause to be the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory. Several drug product approvals were cancelled. The factory issued a formal apology to infected people in February.?