Date: Fri 20 Mar 2009
Source: China Org [edited]
<http://www.china.org.cn/china/news/2009-03/20/content_17477941.htm>
Investigation into the death of 12 migrant workers
A team of medical experts has been sent to Yunnan by the Ministry of
Health to investigate the causes of the deaths of 12 migrant workers.
An inspection team has also been sent to a number of sandstone plants
in Anhui Province, Chinanews.com.cn reports.
The 12 migrant workers died from a "strange disease" after returning
home to Yunnan. They had been working for a number of years in
sandstone plants in Fengyang County, Anhui. The Ministry of Health
has taken a keen interest in the case and is taking prompt action to
investigate the causes of the deaths, according to Yunnan.cn.
The migrant workers were attracted by the relatively high monthly
salary of 2000 yuan (USD 293) despite the poor working conditions in
the sandstone plants.
The sandstone plants are all small-scale, packed close together, just
a few meters apart. Many of the businesses have no name, some do not
even have a workshop, just an outdoor mill and a supply of sandstones.
The "Xuedong Quartz Sand Plant" was a name mentioned many times by
the workers who became ill with the disease. But it is just an
ordinary looking 2 or 3-room house with a 10 square-meter [108 sq-ft]
yard. The ground is covered with a layer of white dust, and the air
in the rooms has a pungent odor.
A migrant worker from Sichuan said that 10 of his colleagues had been
sent back the previous day after a health check because their boss
was afraid they might be suffering from pulmonary disease.
The local authority has asked all the plants to stop production, has
set a special work group responsible for the matter, and has
organized a mass meeting to discuss safer production methods.
[Byline: Jessica Zhang]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-MBDS
<promed-mbds@promedmail.org>
[The detailed clinical symptoms of the 12 migrant workers who died in
Yunnan province are not described in the newswire although the
disease is mentioned to be associated with "air pollution and crowded
living conditions".
At the beginning of March 2009, hundreds of gold miners from Quang
Nam province, Viet Nam, hospitalized with respiratory symptoms were
diagnosed with pulmonary silicosis (see prior PRO/MBDS posting
Undiagnosed respiratory disease - Viet Nam (02): silicosis 20090311.1017).
A previous event of an unknown fatality, which was suspected to be
food poisoning, was also reported from Yunnan province in February
2009 (see prior PRO/MBDS posting Undiagnosed fatality - China:
Yunnan, food poisoning susp, RFI 20090228.0829). It was later
confirmed to have been caused by trichinellosis (see prior PRO/MBDS
posting Undiagnosed fatality - China (02): Yunnan, trichinellosis
conf. 20090306.0933).
In the absence of specific descriptions of the clinical presentations
preceding the deaths of these workers it is difficult to know if the
"strange disease" is respiratory in nature or perhaps related to
other exposures such as food.
PRO/MBDS would appreciate more information from reliable sources on
investigations into the etiology of the deaths of 12 migrant workers
in Yunnan province.
For a map of China with provinces, see
<http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/china_pol01.jpg>.
Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China and it borders
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province in the east,
Sichuan Province in the north, and Tibet Autonomous Region in the
northwest. It shares a border with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the
south, and Viet Nam in the southeast.
For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED map of China with links to other
ProMED-mail and PRO/MBDS postings in China and surrounding areas, see
<http://healthmap.org/promed/en?v=36.5,103.9,4>. - Mods.YMA/MPP]
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