Nepal faces risk of epidemics: Chinese experts

The possibility of epidemic outbreaks was "high", while the risk of intestinal disease was "very high" in quake-hit areas of Nepal, a Chinese government medical team said in its report on Saturday.

The team released an evaluation report on the public health risk of the Nepal quake.

The 59-member Chinese group includes experts in public hygiene, infectious diseases, traumatology, orthopaedics and emergency treatment, all from Yunnan province. More than 85 percent of the team members have earthquake-relief experience.

The team's head Lu Lin told Xinhua that they tested 51 items, according to the standards of the World Health Organization.

Deputy head Zhang Rong said he was worried about the high epidemic risk in the quake-hit areas.

Nepal has not yet established an epidemic situation reporting mechanism, he said, adding that it has been difficult to collect and analyse epidemic information.

Zhang said Chinese experts were training local medical personnel as best as they can.

More than 600 Nepalese medical personnel have been trained to join the epidemic control campaigns in the quake-hit areas.