The top three medical stories from China this week

Medical exam fraud: A medical examination cheating ring has been uncovered in Hebei after a 29 year old woman was found to be taking a postgraduate exam in place of someone else. The woman was arrested after it was found the ID card did not match the details of the doctor who was supposed to be taking the test, who was from Chengdu. The woman said she was paid 60,000 yuan (about US$9000) to take the test on behalf of another person. The woman, who was originally a doctor, said she had given up her job in 2013 after she discovered she could make more money through exam fraud.

Influenza deaths: There have been three severe cases including one death from severe H5N6 influenza in Guangdong and a further death of an overseas visitor from H1N1 influenza, according to media reports. Chinese media said that a a 25-year-old man from Shenzhen, was in a serious condition in hospital. A 26 year old woman died of the same infection in Shenzhen last week, while a third person in Zhaoqing, Guangdong was in a serious condition. Meanwhile a Guyanese man has died of H1N1 influenza in a Miami hospital after returning from China. The infections are presumed to have come from exposure to live poultry and it is not thought there is a high risk of human-to-human transmission.

Air pollution harms fetus: Pregnant women who are exposed to the high level of air pollution in China are likely to have low birth weight babies, a study shows. Exposure to high levels of PM2.5 particles, as found in China's smogs, was linked to a decrease in birth weight and an increased risk of low birth weight, according to a study by specialists at the Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou. The doctors said the effect of air pollution on fetal growth was similar to that seen with cigarette smoke, and was due to immature fetuses being more susceptible to air pollution because they are in critical periods of organogenesis.

H5N2 influenza outbreak in Hebei

Areas within 3 km of a farm in north China's Hebei Province, the site of an H5N2 bird flu outbreak in poultry, were confirmed to have been sealed off, according to local government.
The disease killed 4,000 chickens raised at the farm in Baoding City after they showed symptoms of suspected avian flu on Dec. 17, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
The National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory on Saturday confirmed the epidemic was caused by the H5N2 avian influenza virus after testing samples collected at the farm.
Local authorities have sealed off and sterilized the infected area, where a total of 125,700 chickens have been culled and safely disposed of to prevent the disease from spreading.
Bird flu, or avian influenza, is a contagious disease of animal origin caused by viruses that normally only infect birds and, less commonly, pigs. It can be fatal to humans.
Earlier this week, four new human cases of H7N9 bird flu were confirmed in south China's Guangdong Province.
Jiangxi Province also confirmed a human case of H10N8, a new strain of bird flu, on Wednesday.
Source: CRI

Health minister leads crackdown on illegal medical practices in Hebei

An inspection team for the national special operation of further enforcing medical service regulations and striking out illegal medical practices came to Hebei Province on December 12 for a two-day inspection mission. It was led by Mr. Chen Xiaohong, Vice Minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and attended by concerned responsible officials of the Ministry of Public Security, China Food and Drug Administration as well as experts from Health Supervision Stations of Tianjin, Jiangxi and Jiangsu.
The inspection team listened to reports on progress of the national special operation and the special examination on radiological diagnosis and radiotherapy in Hebei Province, Shijiazhuang City, Langfang City and some other districts and counties. It also conducted field inspections at 14 randomly selected units in Shijiazhuang and Langfang cities, including healthcare institutions, family planning service delivery centers, life cosmetology shops and drug stores. The team assessed the performance of these units through distributing a questionnaire to people on the spot. Problems found during the inspection activity were fed back to concerned departments.
Source: NPFPC

Baby dies in incubator after Hebei hospital power cut

Power cut at the Xianxian Maternal and Child Health Hospital blamed for incubator death

Health authorities are investigating a hospital in Xianxian County of Hebei Province, where a newborn baby died in an incubator after a power failure cut off its heat and oxygen supply for about five hours, local media reported.
The baby boy's mother gave birth on December 2 at the Xianxian Maternal and Child Health Hospital. The boy looked strong but with his face looked pale, the doctor sent him to an incubator for oxygen therapy, the parents told Yanzhao Metropolis Daily.
But the next day, a power blackout occurred at the hospital from 1:40am to 6:30am, cutting off oxygen and heat to the incubator, the parents told the newspaper.
The baby's father, Li Dabing, said he was worried whether the baby would catch cold in the incubator when the power failure occurred, but a nurse told him not to worry, as power is usually restored after an hour.
"I was thinking about taking my baby out of that incubator, but the nurse wouldn't help remove the medical equipment, such as tubes, from his body," Li told the newspaper. "I feared that the baby may catch cold there as even I felt cold in cotton-padded clothes."
They waited until the hospital restored power after a worker started the emergency electricity generation system.
The parents said the baby was then found suffering symptoms of exposure to cold, as his face appeared very red, he had a fever and kept sneezing in the incubator.
The baby was pronounced dead last Wednesday, three days after it was born.
"I believe the death of my son is directly related to the hospital's power failure and the cutting off of the oxygen supply," Li said. "As a public hospital, how can the medical workers restore power five hours after the blackout started?"
A hospital vice director surnamed Luo said that the poor condition of the hospital's facilities was to blame for the five-hour-long power failure.
Source: Yanzhou Daily

Illegal blood sales in Hebei lead to 40% hepatitis C infection rate

Many rural Hebei blood donors have chronic hepatitis C and urgently need care

 by Michael Woodhead

More than 40% of Hebei villagers who took part in illegal blood donation sales have contracted hepatitis C, Beijing researchers have found.
A study of 520 villagers in rural Hebei found that 45% had taken part in illegal commercial plasma and blood donation activities in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
 Of the 236 people who had sold their blood or plasma, evidence of hepatitis C infection was found in 101 (42.8%). Overall, hepatitis C seropositivity was confirmed in 148 of the 520 (28.5%) villagers interviewed.
Dr Huang Changhong and co-researchers from the Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing said that selling plasma was the strongest independent predictor of hepatitis C virus seropositivity, while past history of an operation was also independently associated with hepatitis C virus infection.
"Unsafe practices during illegal plasma donation led to a high risk of hepatitis C virus seropositivity for donors during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many infected people suffered chronic hepatitis from that time onwards and urgently need treatment and care," they conclude.
Read more: International Journal of Infectious Diseases