Public health incidents killed 38 people on the Chinese mainland last month with 114 incidents recorded and 2,762 people involved, the Ministry of Health said Thursday.

Emergent public health incidents refer to major epidemics, diseases of unknown origin, major food or occupational poisoning cases, and other incidents like bird flu.

The number of such incidents rose 4.59 percent year-on-year, while the people involved and the fatalities down 25.81 percent and 30.91 percent respectively, the ministry said in a report.

There was no report of such incidents in July in seven provincial areas -- Hubei, Shandong, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Beijing, according to the ministry.

Experts warned that with high temperatures in current season, public health incidents such as intestinal infectious diseases and food poisoning might increase.

The conditions of the outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) remained stable recently and saw a dropping trend. but experts pointed out the disease was still with a relatively high incidence rate.

The ministry urged its local bureaux to step up surveillance of contagious diseases, especially in the earthquake-hit regions.

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2008)