More than 1,200 Chinese died of infectious diseases last month, 200 more than that for the corresponding month the previous year and up 300 from the previous month, Xinhua quoted the Health Ministry as saying. The Chinese mainland has confirmed that one person died of bird flu. No serious epidemics were reported in Sichuan Province, the area hit hardest by the May 12 earthquake, which itself left 87,000 people dead or missing, it said. Tuberculosis, hepatitis B, syphilis, diarrhea and gonorrhea were the top five killers, causing more than 85 percent of the deaths, according to the ministry. In December, more than 320,000 cases of class A and B infectious diseases occurred and claimed 1,235 lives. Of the 140,000 cases of class C infectious diseases recorded, 13 were fatal. The most serious infectious diseases, such as plague and cholera, fall into class A; class B comprises 25 diseases such as viral hepatitis; and class C covers common, less severe diseases including influenza.
