Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The pig-borne disease has spread to six more towns in Sichuan and the number of people killed has risen to 31, the Chinese Ministry of Health reported yesterday. It said on its website the total number of people affected had increased to 152 by noon yesterday. Twenty-seven are in critical condition. Six more towns in Sichuan reported cases on Wednesday, in addition to the two cities, Ziyang and Neijiang , where people first fell ill after slaughtering pigs that were foaming at the mouth last month, the ministry said. Health Minister Gao Qiang arrived in Sichuan yesterday to reassure the locals that the situation was under control.

The World Health Organisation said it was baffled. It said if the disease was caused by the Streptococcus suis bacteria, as preliminary mainland results show, it would be the first time the bacteria had struck so many people at one time - raising fears it had become more virulent. Investigations show only those who came in contact with infected pigs or pork - through slaughtering or processing - and had open wounds fell ill, the Beijing Daily Messenger cited experts as saying. The victims were mostly farmers who raised pigs in small, unsanitary farms. Local farmers said they had a habit of eating sick pigs instead of burying them.

Newspaper accounts said many people pitched in to shave the hair off the slaughtered swine, washed the internal organs and chopped the meat. Jiang Suhua , a woman who fell ill was quoted by the Beijing Daily Messenger as saying she did not think anything of the small wound on her hand when she helped kill a pig. "After killing the pig, our entire family boiled three bowls of pork to eat. After eating just a few chopsticks of the meat, I felt my heart pound, I was dizzy and nauseous", the woman said. "Later my legs were so weak I couldn't stand up. My arms and legs had large blotches of blood under the skin".

• china
• sanity
• health
• pigs
• porks
• farmers
• epidemy
• infection
• Streptococcus
• suis
• bacteria