Meningitis kills eight in eastern China

BEIJING, Jan 30 (AFP) - An outbreak of meningitis across 11 cities in eastern China has claimed eight lives and left seven people hospitalised, state media reported Sunday.
As of December 20, the disease had killed three in the eastern city of Nanjing and five school children in Anhui province, also in the east, provincial health authorities were quoted by China Youth Daily as saying.
Anhui officials said 61 cases had been found, and that 49 had recovered.
Most victims were children aged 13 to 18 and most of the cases were of group C meningitis, which generally causes more deaths than groups A and B.
"Group C bacteria spreads easier and is more difficult to control," said Du Changzhi, deputy director of Anhui health department.
The report did not say whether the outbreak could spark a large-scale epidemic.
Heath and education authorities have asked schools to closely monitor the health of students.

01/30/2005 03:28 GMT - AFP