About 160 boxes of vaccine for treating streptococcus suis bacteria -- enough for 350,000 pigs -- was sent from the southern city of Guangzhou by plane to Sichuan, where the disease was first found, Xinhua news agency said.

Larger quantities of the vaccine, enough for 10 million pigs, were being manufactured and would be sent to the areas affected by the disease, the report said, quoting the vaccine supplier, Guangzhou-based Yongshun Biomedical Company.

"It is the first massive production of the vaccines for streptococcus swine type II in China and experts from the ministry of agriculture has monitored the whole process of production," Xinhua said.

As of late Saturday, the number of people killed by the epidemic, which is usually spread among pigs, rose to 34 while the number of cases increased to

The health ministry had not updated the toll Sunday.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Gao Qiang called on local officials to step up precautions against the disease and to keep casualties to a minimum.

Blood samples are taken from livestock pigs in Hefei, late 26 July 2005, in China's Anhui province.

"The most urgent task for the time being is to send large numbers of staff to the villages to help peasants with protection measures," Gao told China Central Television.

The epidemic first discovered in June has so far affected 155 villages in seven cities in Sichuan province, including the provincial capital Chengdu, up from two cities initially, according to the ministry.

A notice from the provincial government Sunday warned local officials that disciplinary action would be taken against those who did not report cases in a timely manner.

Four officials from Ziyang city, where many of the infected pigs and humans were found, have been dismissed for dereliction of duty, state media said earlier.

Victims contracted the bacteria from slaughtering or processing infected pigs or handling infected pork, state media had quoted experts saying. Many had open wounds which allowed the bacteria to enter their blood stream.

No other channels of infections have been found, reports said.

Symptoms include high fever, vomiting and haemorrhaging, with many patients going into severe shock.

The WHO has said it was baffled because if the epidemic was caused by the bacteria, it would be the first time it had struck so many people at one time. Normally, only one or two cases of the rare disease are seen.

The bacteria is endemic in Asia, North America and Europe, with the first recorded human case in Denmark in 1968. More than 200 cases of human infection have been reported globally since then, not counting the latest outbreak.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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