THE number of people suffering from pinkeye has increased sharply in Guangzhou, according to media reports.

　　Many patients lined up yesterday at the People's Hospital of Baiyun District. A girl waiting in line said she had visited relatives the previous day and found everyone had pinkeye. Next morning, she found she had contracted the infection.

　　A doctor said she had to treated 50 to 60 patients over the past two days.

　　Pinkeye is extremely contagious and will usually infect an entire family once one member has been infected.

　　Another doctor cited villages adjacent to one another outside the city struck by the disease in the past few days. More than 200 people from one village have seen doctors while more than 300 have been treated in another.

　　It seemed some people in these villages were ignoring warnings against the spread of the disease. In a hairdressing parlor, a young woman with pinkeye was seen washing the head of a client. Asked why, the woman said her infection was not serious and she would not infect clients.

　　The doctor said the high incidence of pinkeye in these villages was caused by a large floating population and poor sanitation.

　　(Flame Wu)