Infectious diseases claimed 1,000 lives in China in December out of more than 420,000 recorded cases, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

Last month, more than 320,000 cases of A- and B-Class infectious diseases occurred and claimed 991 lives. Of the 104,556cases of C-Class infectious diseases recorded, there were nine fatalities.

In December, the top five infectious diseases, accounting for 86.65 percent of the total of A- and B-Class diseases, were tuberculosis, hepatitis B, syphilis, diarrhea and gonorrhea.

China also reported two confirmed human cases of bird flu in eastern Jiangsu Province, with one person, 24, dying on Dec. 2.

The top five killers were rabies, tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitisB, and hemorrhagic fever, according to the ministry.

Infectious diseases in China are classified into three categories by the country's Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases.

A-Class illnesses include only two diseases, namely plague and cholera; B-Class infectious diseases include 25 ailments, such as viral hepatitis, and C-Class infectious diseases include 10 sicknesses such as influenza.

(Xinhua News Agency January 11, 2008)