Highly Contagious hand, foot and mouth disease hits thousands of Chinese infants
Pastor Dale Morgan
Highly Contagious hand, foot and mouth disease hits thousands of Chinese
infants*
March 24, 2009 - 5:09PM
Thousands of children in east and central China have been sickened with
hand, foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious illness that is
sometimes fatal, the government says.
Two children died of the disease, also known as enterovirus, over the
weekend in Heze city in the eastern province of Shandong, the provincial
medical department said on its website on Tuesday.
According to the Beijing News, tests on the causes of another four
recent infant deaths in and around Heze were still being confirmed by
doctors.
Symptoms of the highly contagious disease include fever and sores. It
can be fatal in children due to their less-developed immune systems.
The disease, which is common in China, took an unusually high toll in
the first few months of 2008, infecting nearly 25,000 people nationwide
and killing around 40, according to government figures.
By comparison, 17 deaths were reported in 2007.
According to the Shandong medical department, just over 500 cases of
hand, foot and mouth disease have been reported in the province this year.
Neighbouring Henan province has reported more than 2,100 cases this
year, the local medical department said in a March 19 report posted on
its website.