The Health Ministry said Monday that the incidence of hepatitis B was the highest among all the reported infectious diseases on the Chinese mainland in the first quarter of 2004, and rabies topped the death toll.

Tuberculosis, gonorrhea, dysentery and hepatitis A were among the top five most common diseases, following hepatitis B, the ministry said in a quarterly surveillance report released Monday.

Rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis and AIDS were the major causes of death, the ministry said.

The ministry said rabies was the biggest killer among the communicable diseases on the Chinese mainland. AIDS, infant tetanus and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis followed.

Infectious diseases in China are classified into three categories by the country's law on prevention of communicable diseases. Among the three categories, 27 types of disease are included in the ministry's regular surveillance report.

The ministry said a total of 604,119 cases of infectious diseases were reported during the first three months on the Chinese mainland with 976 deaths. No cases of plague, cholera, poliomyelitis or diphtheria were reported.