Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic in China, now over 6,000 people in northwest China have tested positive for this new infection named brucellosis. It is a bacterial disease, the authorities has confirmed recently.

According to the local government, over 6,000 people in China's Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province has found positive for brucellosis. As per a report released on Thursday by the state-owned Global Times, the Lanzhou government said that the government has tested as many as 55,725 people in the city, of which 6,620 have found positive for the bacterial infection.

WHAT IS BRUCELLOSIS

The Brucellosis outbreak was caused by a leak at a bio-pharmaceutical company last year. According to the media reports, the disease, also known as Malta fever or Mediterranean fever, can cause symptoms including headaches, muscle pain, fever and fatigue.

While these may subside, some symptoms can become chronic or never go away, like arthritis or swelling in certain organs, as per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Human-to-human transmission is extremely rare, according to the CDC. Instead, most people are infected by eating contaminated food or breathing in the bacteria -- which seems to be the case in Lanzhou.

According to Global Times, the brucellosis vaccine production workshop was closed in December 2019 and was dismantled in October.

(With inputs from IANS)