Infectious diseases kill 1272 in China

A total of 1,272 people died of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in October, the National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Monday. A total of 549,135 infectious disease cases were reported on the Chinese mainland last month, it said. Among them, five cases of cholera were reported, but none resulted in death. Plague and cholera are categorized as Class A infectious diseases, the most serious category. In addition, about 285,020 cases were identified as Class B infectious diseases. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery and gonorrhea accounted for 95 percent of the cases in this category, the statement said. It added that category C infectious diseases claimed 10 lives in October, with foot-and-mouth disease, infectious diarrhea and mumps reported most frequently.