More than 5,000 health workers are working to disinfect China's earthquake-hit villages, and doctors and nurses are stationed round the clock in refugee camps to try to prevent survivors from falling sick.

At a sports stadium in Mianyang, Sichuan Province, housing more than 20,000 survivors, an old man watches his wife grimace after downing a small vial of traditional Chinese medicine. "This is very good, it will stop you from getting sick now that your immune system is weak," said the nurse.

A Mianyang health official stationed at the stadium said authorities were well aware of the risks involved in running such a densely populated camp but there were few other options.

The stadium refugees are from Beichuan, a town that was almost completely obliterated by the May 12 quake.

Authorities decided to relocate Beichuan residents en masse when fears arose that a nearby dam could burst. They moved into the stadium two days after the quake.

Nearby, a team of volunteers toting heavy canisters of pesticide and disinfectant patrol the camp every two hours. "We disinfect blackspots like trash bins, toilets, drains and all shaded areas with bleach and pesticides. The areas exposed to the sun are okay, because ultraviolet light kills germs," said the chief of the Public Health and Disease Prevention Team.

The sanitation workers perch on the back of trucks, spraying disinfectant as the slow-moving vehicles comb the streets.

Amid worries over clean drinking water, authorities and donors have sent in bottled water.

"At the beginning, we mostly saw physical injuries," said director Zhou of the Dujiangyan traditional Chinese medicine hospital, "But now we are seeing internal problems and contagious diseases, for instance intestinal diseases."

At a school in Mianzhu, army doctors moved in to check the children. "They may look fine, but when we examine them, they have skin infections, rashes, abrasions. These must be tended to or they can turn into serious infections," said Nie Yaling, a doctor with an army artillery division.

Beichuan has been sealed off to visitors for fear of disease spreading due to the large number of decomposing bodies.

At present only work crews are being allowed to enter the town.

(Shanghai Daily May 23, 2008)