Thousands In China Now Found Infected With A Bacterial Disease That Can Make Men Infertile

The world is still struggling to deal with one pandemic emerged out of China, another outbreak of an infectious disease has been reported in northwest part of the country.

According to reports, thousands of people in China have tested positive for a bacterial infection named Brucellosis.

The news was not only confirmed by concerned authorities in China, they also told that the outbreak had occurred due to a leak at a biopharmaceutical company last year, News18 reported.

According to the media reports, the disease, also known as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever, can cause symptoms including headaches, muscle pain, fever and fatigue. Apart from this, the diseases can also have side effects such as inflamed testicles and can render some men infertile.

While these may subside, some symptoms can become chronic or never go away, like arthritis or swelling in certain organs, as per the United States (US) Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare, according to the CDC. Instead, most people are infected by eating contaminated food or breathing in the bacteria -- which seems to be the case in Lanzhou.

According to CNN, the Health Commission of Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, confirmed that 3,245 people had contracted the disease, which is often caused by contact with livestock carrying the bacteria brucella.

Another 1,401 people have tested as preliminarily positive, though there have been no fatalities reported, the city's Health Commission said on Tuesday.

In total, authorities have tested 21,847 people out of the city's 2.9 million population.

This outbreak stemmed from a leak at the Zhongmu Lanzhou biological pharmaceutical factory, which occurred between late July to late August last year, according to the CNN.

While producing Brucella vaccines for animal use, the factory used expired disinfectants and sanitisers -- meaning not all bacteria were eradicated in the waste gas, the report said.

(With inputs from IANS)