Just over a million people on the mainland contracted 27 types of infectious disease in the first half of the year - and rabies, not Sars, was the biggest and deadliest killer, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.
In six months, 490 of 545 people who caught rabies died, while 348 of the 5,327 Sars victims succumbed to the viral disease.
Altogether, infectious diseases claimed 2,228 lives. The other diseases included tuberculosis, meningitis and hepatitis.
The number of fatalities was nearly 10 per cent higher than in the same period last year, but the number of cases fell 4.34 per cent.
Hepatitis remained a serious problem, with more than 392,000 cases, mostly hepatitis B. Without giving specific figures, the ministry's report said there was an increase in Aids and hepatitis C cases.
Rabies was both the most lethal and the most contagious disease. The number of cases and the number of deaths were up 20 per cent from the first half of 2002.