Death toll from China Virus rises as 20,000 now infected
Pastor Dale Morgan
Death toll from China Virus rises as 20,000 now infected*
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 8, 2008; 7:09 AM
BEIJING -- The death toll from a viral illness that is striking children
across China has risen by two to at least 32, health officials said
Thursday, as the number of reported cases jumped to nearly 20,000.
The latest deaths from hand, foot and mouth disease occurred on the
island province of Hainan in China's south, where 180 cases have been
reported, Hainan's health bureau said on its Web site.
It said the two children tested positive for enterovirus 71, a virus
that can cause a severe form of the disease, a common childhood ailment
that typically causes little more than a fever and rash.
Xinhua said late Wednesday that the number of reported cases of hand,
foot and mouth has jumped to 19,962, A day earlier, the number of
infections was 15,799, cropping up in areas ranging from Guangdong
province in the south to Jilin province in the northeast and Anhui
province in the country's heartland.
Health experts have said they expect the number of cases to rise as a
result of an order issued this week by the Ministry of Health requiring
health care providers to report infections within 24 hours.
Last year, 80,000 hand, foot and mouth cases were recorded in China with
17 deaths, the health ministry has said. Spokesman Mao Qun'an said the
figures were probably incomplete because reporting wasn't mandatory then.
Hand, foot and mouth disease spreads through contact with saliva, feces,
fluid secreted from blisters or mucus from the nose and throat. There is
no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children affected by the
disease typically recover quickly without problems.
It is unrelated to the foot and mouth disease that affects livestock.