More than 100 middle school students in Guangxi have been infected with hepatitis A in an epidemic blamed on contaminated drinking water and poor hygiene, mainland media said yesterday.
The first of the 112 hepatitis A patients from the Fengshan Township No2 Middle School in Bobai county was detected on November 23, about two weeks before the epidemic erupted on December 6, Xinhua said.
The report said all of the patients had been quarantined and were receiving medical treatment in hospital. It also said the epidemic was under control.
Gong Jian , the emergency director of the Guangxi Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted by Xinhua as saying the outbreak occurred through a combination of circumstances.
'The initial conclusion is that the well water the students drank from was contaminated. The epidemic's spread is accounted for by the poor sanitation standards in the school's accommodation, the absence of a sanitation licence for the cafeteria, and the students' habit of drinking unboiled water,' Mr Jian said.
The report said the middle school had two wells - one for teaching staff and one for students - but the students' well was less than five metres from a sewage source.
