This is bird flu, even though the Chinese don't want to admit it. This story shows that the virus is spreading geographically and that it is endemic to the swine and sheep population.
BEIJING --An unidentified illness has killed 17 farmers and sickened 41 in southwestern China after they butchered sick pigs or sheep, China's official news agency said Sunday.
Those affected had symptoms including high fever, fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and "became comatose later with bruises under the skin," Xinhua news agency said.
Over the past four weeks, 58 people from areas around the cities of Ziyang and Neijiang in China's southwestern Sichuan province were hospitalized with such symptoms, Xinhua said.
Seventeen of those hospitalized have died, while 12 are in critical condition, 27 are stable and two have recovered, it said.
A "preliminary probe found out that the affected farmers have butchered sick pigs or sheep" before falling ill, the report said.
