All "snail patients" in Beijing recovered (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-09-30 10:32
All 160 victims of a parasitic disease contracted by eating undercooked
snails in Beijing have recovered, the Beijing Municipal Public Health Bureau
said Friday.
All patients hospitalized at Beijing Friendship Hospital left for home by
Thursday, three days before the National Day that falls on Oct. 1, according to
doctors with the hospital's tropical disease institute.
Nearly 141 patients, 25 in serious condition, had been hospitalized at
Beijing Friendship Hospital over the past two months and many left after three
week-long treatment there, the doctors said.
The last three patients at Xuanwu Chinese Medicine Hospital will also be
discharged soon, so they can spend the traditional Mid-Autumn Day with their
families, doctors of the hospital said.
The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau has reported a total of 160 people
infected with a type of angiostrongyliasis, a disease caused by parasites that
affect the brain and spinal cord, which can lead to meningitis, after eating raw
or undercooked snails since June 24.
Most of them ate the snails at the Shuguo Yanyi Restaurant serving
Sichuan-style dishes.
No deaths have been reported.
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