The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Saturday warned that mass epidemics in China's Sichuan province are a live threat in the aftermath of Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake.
"Action is needed to prevent the risk of disease outbreaks in quake-affected areas, where absence of safe drinking water and proper waste disposal and cramped living conditions in temporary shelters can be conducive to outbreaks," it said in a statement.
"Preventing communicable disease outbreaks is the key public health issue now facing the People's Republic of China."
Five days after the enormous quake that the government estimates killed more than 50,000 people, there were rising concerns over potential disease outbreaks among the nearly five million people who have lost their homes.
Aside from the ongoing rescue effort, authorities are focused on supplying fresh drinking water and improving sanitary conditions for survivors housed in tent cities or in the open.
The WHO's China representative, Dr Hans Troedsson, said the Beijing government had responded appropriately to the immense health and logistics challenges it faces, particularly around the epicentre in Beichuan County.
However, the Chinese health ministry also acknowledged Saturday the danger of large-scale epidemics.
"Warding-off epidemics is the most urgent and the most important task we now face," said deputy agriculture minister Wei Chao'an.
A WHO official on the ground said that decomposing bodies in the area were not the main threat, but rather polluted water and crowded conditions in temporary shelters.
The risk is highest from around 10 days after such a disaster, until the end of the first month.
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China-quake-aid-health-WHO
AFP 171917 GMT 05 08
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