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China reports death of two more children
China reported two more deaths yesterday from a severe strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, bringing its toll from the outbreak to 30, all of them young children, Xinhua news agency reported.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:43 May 9, 2008
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Hand, foot and mouth toll up to 28
Hand, foot and mouth toll up to 28
Beijing: China reported two more deaths yesterday from a severe strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, bringing its toll from the outbreak to 30, all of them young children, Xinhua news agency reported.
Hand, foot and mouth is a common childhood illness, but the current outbreak has led to fatalities in China, mostly when linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a severe form of the disease, characterised by high fever, paralysis and meningitis.
China also reported an additional 4,000 cases of hand, foot and mouth, bringing the total to nearly 20,000 across the country this year, but said the rise was due to better reporting of the outbreak, not the spread of the disease.
"The rising number is not a sign of a deteriorating situation," Xinhua said.
The two latest deaths were both on China's southern island province of Hainan, a tropical area popular with tourists.
The outbreak has centred on Fuyang city, in the poor, eastern province of Anhui, were 22 have died, but several other regions have reported fatalities.
Unusually high
Some 104 patients in Anhui remained in a critical condition, Xinhua said.
The World Health Organisation has said that China was not facing a new or more virulent strain of hand, foot and mouth, despite an unusually high number of child deaths.
But questions remain about why there has been such a large cluster of cases in Fuyang and why they presented unusual symptoms that made it difficult to identify the virus - a delay that may have cost lives.
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WHAT IS IT? Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common illness among infants and children. It is characterised by fever and a rash with blisters. One or two days after the fever begins, painful sores develop in the mouth. Other lesions typically form on suffers' hands and feet - hence the name. HFMD is often confused with foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, sheep and swine. Although the names are similar, the two diseases are not related at all.
WHAT CAUSES IT? Viruses from the group called enteroviruses. The most common cause is coxsackievirus A16. Sometimes, HFMD is caused by enterovirus 71 or other enteroviruses.
WHO IS MOST AT RISK? HFMD occurs mainly in children under 10 years old, but also in adults. Infants, children, and adolescents are more likely to be susceptible because they are less likely than adults to have antibodies and to be immune from previous exposures to them.
HOW IS IT TREATED? There is no vaccine or treatment for HFMD, although its symptoms can be treated to provide relief from fever, aches or pain from the mouth ulcers.
HOW DANGEROUS IS HFMD? Usually not at all. HFMD caused by coxsackievirus A16 infection is a mild disease. Nearly all patients recover without medical treatment in 7 to 10 days. Complications are uncommon. Rarely, a patient with coxsackievirus A16 infection will also develop "aseptic" or viral meningitis.
WHAT'S BEHIND THE FATALITIES? The current outbreak has led to 30 fatalities in China; mostly when linked with enterovirus 71. EV71 can also cause viral meningitis and, rarely, more serious diseases, such as encephalitis, or a poliomyelitis-like paralysis.
HOW DOES HFMD SPREAD? Person to person, by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stools of infected people. A person is most contagious during the first week of the illness.
HOW IS IT PREVENTED? Measures include frequent handwashing and disinfecting contaminated areas, plus isolation of those with the disease.
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