Infectious diseases kill 1,374 in China in July

A total of 1,374 people died of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in July, the National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Tuesday.

A total of 776,608 infectious disease cases were reported last month, it said.

Among them, one case of plague resulted in death, five cases of cholera were reported but none caused death. Plague and cholera are both categorized as Class A, the most serious category.

In addition, about 326,416 cases, identified as Class B infectious diseases, resulted in 1,294 deaths. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery and gonorrhea accounted for 92 percent of the cases in this category, the statement said.

It added that category C infectious diseases claimed 80 lives in July, with foot-and-mouth disease, infectious diarrhea, and mumps reported most frequently.

A 38-year-old man in northwest China's Gansu Province died of plague last month, which was linked to the man's contact with a dead marmot, which is of the squirrel family.