Two children test positive for adenovirus in Sichuan

Two children tested positive for adenovirus as of Monday evening after the Shawan District People's Hospital in Leshan, Sichuan province, tested 147 children attending a swimming course in a local natatorium.

The case took place after the district culture, sports and tourism bureau received a report on Sunday evening that some students learning swimming in the district's Xingyuedong Natatorium had fever and other symptoms.

The staff members of the bureau and the district center for disease control rushed to the scene, checking the 147 students, taking samples of water for examination and closing the natatorium immediately, according to the bureau.

The two students testing positive for adenovirus were in stable condition. Intensive medical care would be offered to the students to facilitate their recovery, and supervision of other natatoriums in the district would be strengthened, it said.

As the mercury hit 38 degrees Centigrade in many parts of Sichuan, many parents let their children learn swimming or merely play in natatoriums.

A woman surnamed Liu from the Shawan district of Leshan entered his son's name for a swimming training class. The class lasting 12 hours cost 1,080 yuan ($160). But her son fell ill after only being trained for four hours.

After he returned home from the natatorium on July 20, he suffered from headache, dizziness, abdominal pain and low fever.

"I thought he had cold after sleeping under an air conditioner the night before," Liu said.

Liu took her son to the hospital where he was prescribed medicine for cold. Despite medical treatment, the child recorded a high fever repeatedly, with the fever reaching even 40 degrees Centigrade. After talking with parents of other children learning swimming in the same natatorium, Liu found that many children showed similar symptoms.

Many parents said that before the case of Liu's son was made known, some students receiving swimming training in the natatorium had asked for leave because of fever and other symptoms.

But the natatorium did not pay adequate attention to the situation and did not notify the parents of trainees in time, resulting in more and more students being infected, they said.

In a related development, 21 children who had fever after swimming in a natatorium in Shifang, a city under the administration of Deyang in Sichuan, tested positive for adenovirus.

After receiving complaint from some parents that their children had fever after swimming in the natatorium and they suspected that their children's problem was caused by poor water quality, the Shifang Center for Disease Control collected water samples from the natatorium last Tuesday. The two indicators of feces were found to have exceeded the requirements of the national standard.

On Friday, a jointly investigation team in Shifang announced that the children's problems were caused by adenovirus and that the natatorium was closed.