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    Half Tones

    Hundreds Flock to Lanzhou Hospitals Amid Brucellosis Scare

    Jan 03, 2020

    Over 1,000 people in the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou have poured into local hospitals over the past week to find out whether they’ve been infected with brucellosis, financial news outlet Caixin reported Thursday.

    The animal-borne bacterial disease, which causes fever-like symptoms in humans, had previously infected some 100 people at veterinary research institutes in Gansu province, where Lanzhou is located, as well as Heilongjiang, beginning in early December.

    Of the more than 1,000 people who visited local hospitals to be tested — a free service provided by health authorities — only around 1% tested positive, the report said. Only one patient, a woman surnamed Hua, exhibited clinical symptoms of brucellosis.

    As of Dec. 26, 181 veterinary researchers had been infected with brucella, according to the Gansu Provincial Health Commission. The original outbreak at the Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute reportedly occurred because a biopharmaceutical company making brucellosis vaccines at the facility had used expired disinfectant(Image: VCG)