Chinese Ministry of Health on Thursday urged better prevention and control of encephalitis B after a dramatic rise in the number of new cases in July .

Last month, the ministry received 2,314 reports of new encephalitis B cases, up 43.73 percent over the same period of last year. It also recorded 78 deaths from the disease, down 6.02 percent year-on-year.

More than 95 percent of the new cases were pre-school children and students, said the ministry in the latest epidemic report.

It noted it was a high season for encephalitis B and called for local authorities to do more to prevent its spread.

Young people who contract the disease are more likely to die or suffer disability.

China saw two widespread outbreaks of encephalitis B in the 1960s and the 1970s, prompting a nationwide vaccination campaign.

However, over the last couple of years China reported between 5,000 and 10,000 cases of encephalitis B cases a year. Some local areas have been ravaged by severe outbreaks.

On July 3, the ministry required local health officials to report within 24 hours any outbreak of encephalitis B.

In the latest epidemic report, the ministry recorded 798 deaths from infectious diseases in July, 175 more than the previous month.

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) was the highest of all reported infectious diseases on the mainland in July, followed by hepatitis B, dysentery, syphilis and gonorrhea.

Rabies, TB, AIDS, encephalitis B and hepatitis B were the top five major causes of death by infectious disease last month.

Source: Xinhua