AIDS is biggest killer among infectious diseases

BEIJING - A total of 1,497 people died of infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in August, with AIDS the top cause of death, according to figures released by health authorities on Monday.

AIDS infections resulted in 1,102 deaths last month, according to a statement posted on the website of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Tuberculosis was the second-biggest killer by claiming 161 lives.

A total of 619,396 infectious disease cases were reported on the Chinese mainland last month, according to the statement.

Ten cases of cholera were reported, but no deaths were reported in this regard.

Plague and cholera are categorized as Class A infectious diseases -- the most serious infectious disease category.

About 323,921 cases were identified as Class B infectious diseases. Hepatitis, tuberculosis, syphilis, dysentery and gonorrhea accounted for 95 percent of cases in this category, the statement said.

The statement said category C infectious diseases claimed 19 lives in August, with foot-and-mouth disease, infectious diarrhea and mumps reported most frequently.