Rabies killed more people in China than any other infectious
disease for the sixth consecutive month in November, the Ministry
of Health said yesterday.
There were 270 deaths caused by rabies last month out of 743
deaths because of infectious disease on the Chinese mainland,
according to the Ministry of Health. In all, 354 people were
reportedly bitten by rabid animals, the ministry said.
Rabies has topped the list of the most deadly infectious disease
since June, before that, tuberculosis was No 1. In November
tuberculosis was the second-ranked killer, followed by AIDS and
hepatitis B, ministry figures showed.
China ranks second in the world, after India, in the number of
reported cases of rabies, sources said.
Every year more than 50,000 people around the world die of the
disease, most of them from developing countries.
At the monthly press conference yesterday, the ministry also
vowed to strengthen supervision over medical advertisements.
China has revised its regulations in an attempt to stop false
and misleading advertising.
The new regulations, which will take effect from next month,
will ban any exaggeration of effects of medical treatments.
According to the new rules, an advertisement may have only the
following information: name of the medical institution, its address
and phone number, speciality and qualification, type of ownership,
number of beds and operating hours.
The new regulations also increased the penalty for violations.
In some cases, medical institutions may be suspended or have their
licences revoked.
The Ministry of Health required various levels of authorities to
tighten up examining medical advertisements.
Statistics show that the medical industry was the sixth-largest
spender on advertising last year, spending 7.6 billion yuan (US$970
million).
(China Daily December 12, 2006)