Infectious diseases kill 1764 in China in December

A total of 1,764 people died of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in December 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission announced on Friday.A total of 549,233 infectious disease cases were reported in December, it said. Among them, no cases of Class A infectious diseases were reported. Plague and cholera are categorized as Class A infectious diseases, the most serious category.In addition, about 283,312 cases, which resulted in 1,743 deaths, were identified as Class B infectious diseases. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery and gonorrhea accounted for 94 percent of the cases in this category, Xinhua quoted the statement as saying.It added that category C infectious diseases claimed 21 lives in December, with infectious diarrhea, foot-and-mouth disease and influenza reported most frequently.