Cholera infection puts China’s Wuhan University on high alert
- Patient ‘greatly improved’ and no new cases discovered after dormitory is sealed off and sterilised over the weekend
- Students from the affected residence were isolated and tested for the potentially fatal disease, according to Chinese social media
Wuhan University in Hubei province, central China, is on high alert after a cholera infection was discovered in one of its dormitories over the weekend.
The Wuchang district disease control and prevention centre (CDC) in the city of Wuhan was alerted to the case on Saturday night, with the patient’s symptoms including vomiting, diarrhoea and low fever.
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Cholera was confirmed after the pathogen that caused the case was verified by the CDC’s municipal and provincial levels, according to a statement issued on Monday by the Wuchang district government.
Wuhan University said on Monday that the patient was a postgraduate who developed a fever early on Friday morning. The student sought treatment at the university’s hospital and had been transferred to a higher level hospital for treatment in isolation.
The university was notified that the student was a probable cholera case on Saturday night and started testing students in the same dorm building that night. Three close contacts were put in isolation and 254 students, staff and campus shop workers all tested negative on Sunday night.
The patient had greatly improved and no other cases were found, the government said.
“The disease has been controlled and the symptoms gone after effective treatment. We have organised professional agencies to conduct sample testing and contact tracing and had the environment sealed off and sterilised. No new cases have been found so far.”