Man in southern China diagnosed with pig-borne disease

BEIJING (AP) - A 49-year-old man in southern China has been infected by a potentially fatal pig-borne disease, state media said yesterday.

The man, who lives in Shenzhen, a city that borders Hong Kong, fell sick July 19 and was hospitalized on Saturday after he went into a coma, the Xinhua News Agency said.

It said the man is in stable condition and is being treated for the Streptococcus suis bacteria, which is usually passed to humans through contact with raw pork or sick swine.

The report did not release any details about the man and said local authorities have not revealed how he contracted the disease. Family members, colleagues and roommates have not shown symptoms and no outbreaks have been reported in pigs in the area, Xinhua said.

China's south has long been the breeding ground for diseases that jump between animals and humans because they often live in close proximity.

An unusually large and lethal outbreak of Streptococcus suis killed at least 38 people in the southwestern province of Sichuan in 2005, mostly farmers who butchered or handled infected pigs. More than 200 people were infected. Pockets of infection were also reported then in Hong Kong and Jiangsu province in the east.

Symptoms include high fever, nausea and vomiting, followed by meningitis, hemorrhaging under the skin, toxic shock and sometimes coma. Some patients have also suffered organ failure.