China deploys 50,000 to fight pig illness

The health workers are going to an estimated 1.4 million farming households, trying to register every pig in the region.

China's Ministry of Health said Friday that 31 people have now died of the mysterious illness.

Twenty-seven others have been hospitalized and are in critical condition. As well, there are more than 152 less severe confirmed or suspected cases.

The disease is blamed on the bacteria Streptococcus suis, which is commonly found in pig populations. It has spread through dozens of villages in Sichuan province since June.

No person-to-person transmissions have been reported.

"The epidemic is at present under control," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the country's health minister, Gao Qiang, as saying on Thursday.

Still, the source of the outbreak has not been determined.

Symptoms include fever, bleeding under the skin, nausea, vomiting, and, in some cases, meningitis.

Medical officials are still trying to find a drug to treat the disease. For now, they are relying on heavy doses of antibiotics.

The government is warning that precautions should be taken, including a ban on the selling, transportation and killing of pigs.

In addition to registering pigs, the country has also embarked on a massive public awareness campaign.

In one city, Ziyang, officials have issued more than two million posters telling farmers not to slaughter or eat sick pigs, the China Daily News reported.

As well, all pork exports from the southwestern province of Sichuan have been suspended.

The outbreak has raised fears that China may be dealing with a disease that could cause as much havoc as SARS, the respiratory ailment that swept through parts of the country in 2003.

It also comes as the country is trying to deal with an outbreak of bird flu in its northwest.