Rabies killed 237 people in China last month, remaining the biggest killer of all infectious diseases, Xinhua news agency China Daily said. It did not give a reason, but last year the blamed the new popularity of pet dogs for a huge increase in rabies cases.

Rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, AIDS and infant tetanus were the major causes of death in September, accounting for 81.08 percent of total reported deaths, Xinhua said late on Sunday, quoting a report by the Health Ministry. Tuberculosis had the highest incidence rate of serious diseases, followed by hepatitis B, dysentery, gonorrhoea and syphilis. This is the sixth straight year that China has seen a big jump in rabies infections.

“Experts from the China Centre for Disease Control and Prevention are blaming the trend in pet ownership, the shaky quality of vaccinations, the public’s weak awareness of vigilance and the low vaccination rate among the dogs as the major causes of the rapid rise in cases,” the China Daily said in November.

Pet dogs were shunned in the days of Mao Zedong as a symbol of bourgeois decadence and dog is still a popular restaurant dish. But pets have become increasingly popular in the last decade with improved living standards.