Lanzhou Brucellosis Leak Claims More Than 10,000 Victims

Infections caused by the 2019 bacteria leak at a factory run by state-owned China Animal Husbandry Industry Co. Ltd. topped 10,000 people in the northwest China city of Lanzhou as of Nov. 30, based on mass testing for brucellosis.

The highly contagious and potentially lifelong debilitating disease was found in 10,528 people following testing of 70,000 local residents, the Lanzhou government said Thursday at a press briefing. That’s more than 50 times the number of cases the government acknowledged in December 2019.

The biopharmaceutical plant in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, used expired sanitizer and allowed live bacteria to seep into its exhaust between July and August 2019. The company initially covered up the leak, and local authorities downplayed its impact, leaving thousands of patients who were unable to obtain diagnoses for months to miss the window for the most effective treatment.

The city government said 3,244 people signed compensation agreements with the factory’s operator, which agreed to pay 80 million yuan ($12.2 million) to victims, up from an initially planned 30 million yuan. The Shanghai-listed company said the compensation to those who signed agreements totaled 24.17 million yuan, indicating each person is getting about 7,450 yuan.

Some victims complained that the compensation was too low. China Animal Husbandry since increased the amount and promised compensation for any future damages.

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Cover Story: A Year On, a Quieter Outbreak Still Sickens Thousands in Northwest China

Following the leak, nearby residents started showing symptoms including low fever and joint pain around September 2019. It wasn’t until Dec. 26 that the Gansu Provincial Health Commission and the Lanzhou city government disclosed the leak. Local health authorities initially said only about 200 people showed brucellosis antibodies after 4,000 people were tested. They assured the public that the leak contained low levels of bacteria that wouldn’t damage people’s health and would be shed from the human body within six months.

Brucellosis, also known as Malta Fever or Mediterranean Fever, can cause recurring fever, joint pain and severe headaches, among other symptoms. Chronic brucellosis is especially hard to cure and causes a general lack of energy and a persistent feverish state. Symptoms can last months or even years and damage human fertility, although the disease is rarely deadly.

After a Caixin investigative report in September 2020 exposed the local government’s lack of disclosure and the far larger scale of the outbreak than officially reported, the Lanzhou government started testing more people.

On the day after the Caixin report, the Lanzhou Health Commission confirmed more than 3,000 infections, and China Animal Husbandry promised to begin compensating infected patients starting the following month.

The sharp increase in confirmed infections reflected the expanded scope of testing to include workers and temporary residents as well as those who previously worked or lived in the Yanchang Road district, where the factory is located, the Lanzhou government said Thursday.

More than 1,600 patients have received free treatment at four hospitals, officials said at the press briefing.

According to the most recent compensation plan reached in October and refined last month with a supplementary agreement, the Lanzhou biopharmaceutical plant will be directly responsible for affected residents’ lifelong health care. The company promised to pay additional compensation if the victims have adverse symptoms, disability, death or other serious consequences in the future that are determined to have been caused by the leak. But some residents said they are concerned about how easily future damage will be determined.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com).

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