Death Rate Climbs as Raging China Virus outbreak spreads
Pastor Dale Morgan
Death Rate Climbs as Raging China Virus outbreak spreads*
Reuters
Wednesday, May 14, 2008; 3:50 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's capital has recorded its first death from an
outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease as authorities try to contain
the spread of a potent virus just three months before the city hosts the
Olympic Games.
Beijing Health Bureau spokeswoman Deng Xiaohong said a 13-month-old boy
from the city's northern Changping District died on the way to a
hospital on Sunday. Hubei province to the south also confirmed the death
of a toddler from hand foot and mouth, taking the nationwide toll to 42.
The spokeswoman said the child in Beijing had tested positive for
enterovirus 71 (EV71), a virus that has caused the majority of the
deaths in the latest outbreak, which started weeks ago in the eastern
province of Anhui's Fuyang city.
Deng also said another child had died of the disease in a Beijing
hospital, but that case would be recorded in neighboring Hebei province,
where the child contracted the disease. No further details of that case
were disclosed.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is a common childhood illness, with a
number of causes, but the current outbreak has been linked to the EV71
virus, which can cause a severe form of the disease, characterized by
high fever, paralysis and meningitis.
There is no vaccine or antiviral agent available to treat or prevent
EV71. Enteroviruses spread mostly through contact with infected blisters
or faeces.
More than 27,500 cases have been reported in China as of last Friday,
Xinhua said earlier, with the number of new cases in Anhui province
starting to decline. Other deaths have been reported in the Guangdong,
Hainan and Guangxi regions.
Following the Anhui outbreak, China issued a nationwide alert, closing
some kindergartens and sending officials to visit nurseries and primary
schools to educate staff on hygiene and prevention.
At least two Beijing kindergartens were suspended last week after
children showed symptoms of the disease, but a Health Ministry spokesman
said then that the number of cases was not abnormal.
"We are confident the potential outbreak will not affect the Beijing
Olympic Games," Mao Qunan, the ministry spokesman, said last week.
Before the latest cases, Chinese media also quoted Hans Troedsson, the
China representative for the World Health Organization (WHO), as saying
he did not expect the disease to be a threat to the Olympics. He said
the WHO was providing technical advice and support to China.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Ken Wills; Editing by Nick
Macfie)