Dec. 16 - Dozens of middle school students in southern China were sickened in a hepatitis A outbreak that authorities linked to contaminated well water and poor sanitation, the official Xinhua News Agency said Friday.

 

The outbreak at Fengshan Town No. 2 Middle School in the Guangxi region has led to the hospitalization of 112 students, Xinhua said, citing Gong Jian, head of the Guangxi center for disease control and prevention.

 

Twenty-one students are confirmed to have hepatitis A, Xinhua said. The rest show symptoms of the liver disease, which can cause jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, diarrhea and nausea.

 

The hepatitis A virus is found in the feces of people infected with the disease, and is spread through contaminated food and water or close contact with someone who is infected.

 

Students regularly drank from a well located about 16 feet from a waste water ditch. The well was the likely source of the outbreak, Xinhua said, noting that high levels of bacteria were found in the water.

 

About 1,000 of the school's 1,438 students live on the premises, where health conditions were poor.

 

“About 20 students shared one dormitory. The canteen had no health permit and was operating without a license,” Xinhua said.

 

The Guangxi disease control center declined to comment while calls to offices of Bobai county, which oversees Fengshan, were unanswered. Phones at the school were disconnected because bills were unpaid, according to a recorded message.

 

The first case of illness was reported Nov. 23 and the situation is now under control, Gong was quoted as saying.