East Asia This section includes general information about health hazards as reported by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The region includes China, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea. The area includes the high mountain complexes, the desert and the steppes of the west, the various forest zones of the east, down to the subtropical forests of the southeast. Among the arthropod-borne diseases, leishmaniasis is occuring in China and plague may be found in China and Mongolia. Cutaneous leishmaniasis has been recently reported in Xinjiang, Uygur Autonomous Region. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome is endemic except in Mongolia, and epidemics of dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis may occur in this area. Mite-borne or scrub typhus may be found in scrub areas in southern China, certain river valleys in Japan, and in the Republic of Korea. Foodborne and waterborne diseases such as diarrheal diseases and hepatitis A are common in most countries. Hepatitis E is prevalent in western China. The present endemic area of schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) is in the central Chang Jiang (Yangtze) river basin; active foci no longer occur in Japan. Clonorchiasis (oriental liver fluke) and paragonimiasis (oriental lung fluke) are reported in China, Japan, Macao, and the Republic of Korea, and fasciolopsiasis (giant intestinal fluke) in China. Brucellosis occurs in China. Cholera may occur in some countries in this area. Hepatitis B is highly endemic. poliomyelitis transmission has been rapidly reduced in the area. Transmission has been interrupted in China since 1994, and Mongolia no longer reports cases. Trachoma, and leptospirosis occur in China. Outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis occur in Mongolia. Rabies is endemic in some countries.