Ticks Spread Fear and Death in Henan Province

After many villagers died from tick bites in Shangcheng County in Henan province, members of China’s Center for Disease Control researched the epidemic and found that if it was discovered earlier, it could have been manageable.

Last October, two elderly patients died from tick bites, both of their relatives who were taking care of them also became ill, but fortunately recovered.

The family members who cared for the two elderly patients in the hospital told this reporter that not once did doctors warn them that the disease may be infections.

Tick Borne Disease Misdiagnosed

Although many people died from tick borne disease last year in Shangcheng, many local doctors still did not recognize the disease; they diagnosed it as a common cold or meningitis.

Shangcheng County People’s Hospital Vice President Wang Deqiang stated that last year, the mortality rate due to tick bites in Shangcheng County increased, and because of this the department of health increased its training measures. “The key point is to prevent misdiagnosis. Once a patient has been misdiagnosed, it is difficult for them to recover.”

According to the Beijing News reporter’s findings, there were many misdiagnoses.

In Shangcheng County from last summer until now, 7 patients who have died from tick borne disease were diagnosed with having a common cold. When they first felt that they were ill, they went to the village doctor. Other common misdiagnoses were mental illness and meningitis.

Ceng Zeping first went into the village hospital with symptoms of tiredness and was diagnosed with a cold. She then underwent a blood transfusion and a few days later had a high fever and hallucinations. Her husband, Yue Changyu, then took her to the Shangcheng County People’s Hospital. There he was told his wife was mentally ill, so he took her to the county mental hospital.

After a few days Ceng Zeping began to have convulsions and she was switched yet again to a new hospital. After 5 days of treatment there were still no results and she continued to have convulsions. An ambulance was called to take her back to Shangcheng. The ambulance medics were also from Henan. They said they had transported 5-6 other people with the same symptoms as Ceng Zeping. They had all been bitten by ticks and had not received proper treatment.

A Nianyu Village doctor who wished to remain anonymous stated that last year many village doctors did not know the existence of the “seemingly invisible disease.”

He remembers that in the past the Health Department had explained to village doctors about the disease, but it was explained in a casual fashion as some fliers were handed it out, so they did not take it seriously. Who knew how much death this disease would cause?

Misdiagnosing for Profit?

May 24 of this past year a China CDC employee travelled to Xinyang, Shangcheng, Luoshan, and Guangshan to train doctors to promote a “prompt discovery, reporting, and investigation” campaign.

July 9, Xinyang City required its hospital staff to train village level clinics in its area to increase the prevention of tick borne disease. Yang Fu gathered with the village doctors of Shangcheng County, and trained them to run blood tests on patients who come in with a fever; if they have a low white blood cell count, that confirms that they have a tick borne disease and they should be sent to Xinyang No 154 Hospital.

According to the head of Xinyang No 154 Hospital’s infectious disease department, the hospital has seen over 100 cases of this illness this year. “As long as the disease is diagnosed early, it is quite easy to treat.”

However, the disease is still getting misdiagnosed for a variety of reasons. A person of authority at Shangcheng County People’s hospital stated, peasants want to save money, so they go to a village doctor for treatment, and IV fluid is the way village hospitals earn their money, so some village hospitals will attach a patient to an IV and wait a few days before diagnosing them.

So far no official figures have been released about the extent of the epidemic. Because of their lack of understanding in regards to the disease, panic has spread among villagers and rumors have begun to spread. Some Shangcheng County villagers told the reporter that the ticks have already bitten and killed several people playing in a public park.

In many areas of Shangcheng, villagers have still not seen the government flier distributed about the disease.

The Xinyang and Shangcheng County Department of Health officials have expressed that is impossible to provide statistics about the epidemic or a list of those infected.

A Xinyang Health Bureau official revealed that the Xinyang City government researched how to disseminate information about the disease, and this past April the city mayor and specialists listened to a report given by the Health Department. The city officials then concluded that until they find how the pathogen is spread, they would not publicize the disease to prevent the spread of panic. However villagers told the Beijing News reporter that if the government does not announce the precise situation of the epidemic, panic is more liable to spread.

Links and Sources
Beijing News: 河南商城多人被蜱虫咬死 当地为维稳未公布疫情 and 河南商城多名村民被虫咬后死亡 传播途径成谜
Sina:河南信阳称蜱虫咬人致死尚无法从根源预防