*China virus death toll continues to rise............*

Doctors consult as parents sit with their sick child in Fuyang on 5 May 2008

Hundreds of children with the virus have needed hospital treatment

The toll from an intestinal virus that has affected thousands of
children in central China is continuing to rise, as officials work to
rein in the outbreak.

A child died in Zhejiang province, bringing the number of deaths from
Enterovirus 71 to 28.

There have been more than 5,000 cases in Anhui province alone, with
scores more in at least four other provinces.

EV71 is highly contagious, causing fever, blisters in the mouth and a
rash on the hands and feet.

In extreme cases, it can cause brain, heart and lung damage.

On Saturday, Chinese health officials issued a nationwide health alert
in an effort to control the outbreak, ordering health authorities to
report all cases of the virus within 24 hours.

Sensitive issue

The outbreak emerged in Fuyang city in March, but was only reported in
mid-April.

More than 650 new cases were reported in Anhui province on Sunday,
Xinhua news agency said, raising the number of recorded cases there to
5,200.

Twenty-five children have died in the province and three deaths have
also been reported in Guangdong province.

The delay in reporting the outbreak has led to accusations of a cover-up
by local authorities.

The question of reporting infectious diseases is sensitive in China,
following widespread criticism of the handling of the Sars (Severe Acute
Respiratory Syndrome) epidemic in 2003.

But on Sunday the World Health Organization's representative in Beijing,
Hans Troedsson, defended the authorities.

"The reason why there was a delay in the reporting at the provincial
level was that they didn't know what the causes for these different
cases were," he said.