Another five people have been sickened by a cholera outbreak in an east China county, local health authorities said Saturday.

This raised the number of total cholera cases in Mengcheng of Anhui province to 38, but all earlier 33 cholera patients have been cured, the Anhui provincial health bureau said in a press release.

The five new patients are under treatment in isolation, it said.

Wang Lin, deputy director of Mengcheng county health bureau, said the new patients had not eaten together.

The cholera outbreak has been brought under initial control as new cases declined sharply as of August 30, it said.

The cholera outbreak was detected on August 16, when the first three patients were admitted into hospital.

The three people ate at three different restaurants. The provincial health and disease control experts were still working to trace the source of the epidemic in the county of 1 million people.

Some local residents blamed low hygiene awareness among the public and street food peddlers and stalls which offered poor quality food for the outbreak.

Earlier local authorities have closed all street food stalls and restaurants for disinfection as the disease is transmitted through water and food.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2010)