New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS): Since the beginning of winter this year, Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has recorded a litany of haemorrhagic fever cases, a natural epidemic disease with a high fatality rate.

Experts of the local Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said rodents are the main source of the infection and vaccination is the most effective way to prevent the disease from spreading, Global Times reported.

Haemorrhagic fever is said to be a common infectious disease in the north. From October every year, some areas of Shaanxi Province enter the high incidence season of haemorrhagic fever.

In recent years, the virus institute of Shaanxi CDC confirmed the local infection of the virus in Xi'an city through a large number of field investigations and laboratory neutralization antibody detection and identification, the report said.

Experts said that haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, also known as epidemic haemorrhagic fever, is caused by Hantavirus, with rodents as the main source of infection.

It can be transmitted by a mouse bite, by eating food or water that a mouse has crawled over, or by contact with infected mouse blood, urine or faeces. The population is generally susceptible to the disease, and the incidence is high in farmers who often work in the field, or workers engaged in agricultural industry and food processing.

Hemorrhagic fever is an acute infectious disease characterised by fever, bleeding and renal damage, and can lead to death in serious cases.

Inchoate symptoms of epidemic haemorrhagic fever and common flu are similar. As a result, many patients may think it is common cold by mistake. Local CDC experts in Xi'an urged patients to have treatment in a timely manner due to the onset of haemorrhagic fever and its rapid progress.