ProMED-Mail recently reported on an outbreak of campylobacterosis at a school resulting in 996 cases.  The report on the outbreak which occurred in 2021 was traced to contaminated ground water from a well, in all probability exposed to raw sewage.  Students complained of water with a “turbid appearance and an unpleasant odor” preceding the event.  Substitution of piped water from a bottled source resulted in cessation of incident cases.  The water system was thoroughly decontaminated using chlorine dioxide.

It is significant that 17 of the Campylobacter coli isolates showed resistance to nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, streptomycin and tetracycline.  This species of Campylobacter isolated from patients is usually associated with hogs and is known to cause enteritis in humans.  The multi drug-resistant profile of the C.coli indicates widespread abuse of antibiotics possibly among hog farms in the vicinity of the school. 

As with many reports of foodborne disease outbreaks and other health events in China, reports are often delayed for years suggesting that multiple levels of approval are required before publication. There is also a disinclination to publicize disease outbreaks since this would distract from the notion that China is other than perfection. Admitting to a problem is effectively ‘loosing face’ as evidenced by the delayed recognition of COVID in 2019 with belated notification of the WHO. The same could be said of iatrogenic AIDS and more recently MPox. Will this Nation ever learn to respond appropriately to human and animal diseases in a responsible civic-oriented manner for the benefit of the World community and its own citizens?