Fear of hand foot and mouth disease outbreak closes more than 100 schools in northern China
China, Jun 26, 2009
In northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, health authorities are highly concerned about the rapid increase in the number of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases among children in the regional capital, Hohhot City, since June 1, Jin Manyi, deputy director of the health bureau in the city said. According to the China Daily, there have been 2,219 confirmed cases of HFMD since the beginning of the year and the Associated Press (AP) reported that about 50 percent of the cases in Hohhot City have been reported this month. An estimated 1,166 cases occurred in the first 23 days of June this year, prompting public health workers to closely monitor the rapid spread. The disease, which is known to affect young children, killed a four-year-old boy in April not long after symptoms had surfaced. Lab results detected that the young boy had died of an infection by the intestinal virus, enterovirus-71, which causes HFMD. As a precaution and in fear that an outbreak would erupt, health authorities in Hohhot City announced on Thursday (June 25) that they had closed 110 kindergartens to try and curb the spread of HFMD among children, state media said. However, Jin was quoted by the AP as saying, "We don't rule out a possibility of an outbreak of the disease in the near future." The China Daily reported that all closed kindergartens failed to meet hygiene standards and were unlicensed in areas between urban and rural districts. Aside from Inner Mongolia, central China's Henan province has been affected the worst by HFMD, where it has killed at least 34 children this year as of May 5, the AP reported. Also, in eastern Shandong province, 31 people have died since May 11. HFMD is a common disease that mainly affects children under the age of ten and is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters. It is caused by a host of intestinal viruses, mainly the Coxsackievirus (Cox A16) and EV-71, the Chinese Ministry of Health told the China Daily. The disease is transmitted by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters or the stool of infected people and the condition can lead to serious conditions such as meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edema and paralysis in some children. In 2008, HFMD affected 27,000 people and killed dozens in China. No vaccine has been developed to treat this disease.
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