Eighty people, including 77 middle school students, are being quarantined amid an outbreak of paratyphoid fever in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, local authorities said Saturday.

The patients have been quarantined and are being treated in a local hospital in Luocheng Mulam Autonomous County, Hechi City, where medical experts are working to contain the disease, according to a statement from officials of Guangxi's health department.

Paratyphoid fever is caused by drinking or eating contaminated water or food. Though the disease has some similarities to typhoid fever, its symptoms are generally less severe.

Cases of paratyphoid type A fever were first reported in late September and surged in October. Eighty-four students were reported to have contracted the disease. Of them, seven have since been discharged from the hospital, said Pan Lichang, head of the county's health department.

A high school student, who declined to give her name, said 17 of her classmates contracted the disease, suffering from fever, headache and diarrhea.

Most of the patients are in stable condition, said Wei Dongping, Luocheng's vice county head.

Paratyphoid type A, caused by infection of bacterium Salmonella paratyphi A, can be spread from person to person and may lead to intestinal ailments.

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2010)