Over 85 percent of tuberculosis (TB) patients recovered in China
in 2005. This was due in part to China's commitment to TB control
the Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday.
China is ranked second in the world next to India in terms of TB
case numbers. About 130,000 Chinese die of TB each year--twice the
death toll caused by other infectious diseases.
Since the end of 2005 nearly all hospitals across the country
have now adopted the DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy Short-course)
strategy 2005 according to Mao Qun'an, Ministry of Health
spokesman. As a result 75 percent of all TB cases were detected in
China in 2005 and more than 85 percent were cured, Mao said.
China has set up a flu monitoring network by deploying 198
influenza monitoring posts and more than 60 network laboratories
nationwide keeping a close watch on the situation. The aim was more
effective control of the pandemic influenza and human cases of bird
flu, Mao said in a briefing on China's control of other major
infectious diseases last year.
In 2005 medical institutions above county-level had been asked
to monitor and report directly pneumonia cases with unknown causes
to recognize human cases of bird flu quickly, Ma said.
China had also addressed the monitoring of major endemic
diseases across the country in 2005 and this resulted in improved
treatment methods for deficiency in iodine and Kaschin-Beck disease
in the
Tibet Autonomous Region.
(Xinhua News Agency February 23, 2006)