国内英语新闻:Political advisors discuss parasitic disease prevention

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- China' national political advisors discussed the treatment and prevention of echinococcosis, a parasitic disease caused by the larval stages of a canine tapeworm, during a bi-weekly consultation session Thursday.

Humans can be infected with echinococcosis. In 2012, the World Health Organization estimated that some 200,000 new cases of cystic echinococcosis were diagnosed annually.

According to a statement issued after the session, members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and disease control experts agreed that local governments should play a bigger role in the treatment and prevention of the disease, and in the dissemination of disease-related information.

Authorities should also focus on regions particularly vulnerable to the disease, including the border regions between the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu and Tibet Autonomous Region, they suggested.

The session was presided over by Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.