Editing Botulism (section)

====Qapqal disease====
After the [[Chinese Communist Revolution]] in 1949, a mysterious plague (named '''Qapqal disease''') was noticed to be affecting several [[Sibe people|Sibe villages]] in [[Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County]]. It was endemic with distinctive epidemic patterns, yet the underlying cause remained unknown for a long period of time.<ref name="nat_med_j_chin">{{cite journal| vauthors = Wu CR, Lian EH, Chen WJ, Liu YZ |title=Botulism: A report for Qapqal disease|journal=National Medical Journal of China|date=1958|volume=44|issue=10|pages=932–942}}</ref> It caused a number of deaths and forced some people to leave the place.<ref name="BMEnvS">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fu SW, Wang CH | title = An overview of type E botulism in China | journal = Biomedical and Environmental Sciences | volume = 21 | issue = 4 | pages = 353–6 | date = August 2008 | pmid = 18837301 | doi = 10.1016/S0895-3988(08)60054-9 | bibcode = 2008BioES..21..353F }}</ref>

In 1958, a team of experts were sent to the area by the Ministry of Health to investigate the cases. The epidemic survey conducted proved that the disease was primarily type A botulism,<ref name="PD">{{cite news|url=http://english.people.com.cn/102759/7567650.html|title=The Xibe ethnic minority|date=12 November 2011|access-date=29 January 2018|newspaper=People's Daily|editor=Huang Beibei|archive-date=24 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024013056/http://english.people.com.cn/102759/7567650.html|url-status=live}}</ref> with several cases of type B.<ref name="nat_med_j_chin"/> The team also discovered that the source of the botulinum was local fermented grain and beans, as well as a raw meat food called ''mi song hu hu''.<ref name="BMEnvS"/> They promoted the improvement of fermentation techniques among local residents, and thus eliminated the disease.