44 dead as hand, foot and mouth disease spreads in eastern China
China, Jul 10, 2009
In the last week, one more child has died of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in eastern China's Shandong province, bringing the death toll this year in the province to 44, provincial health authorities told Xinhua news agency on Tuesday (July 7). Shandong, now the worst-affected province, has reported 85,301 cases of HFMD between January 1 and July 5. Among those cases, 78,831 have recovered. No further details have been released about the affected child, but Xinhua reports the new death occurred during the week from June 29 to July 5. In that week alone, local health authorities in the province reported 6,919 new HFMD cases, of which 2,944 cases required hospitalization and 245 of those were considered serious. Due to the massive outbreak, hospitals in Shandong were ordered to reserve enough beds and other supplies. Meanwhile, public awareness campaigns have been launched. 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 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 or specific treatment has been developed for the disease, but most children that do become infected are able to recover quickly. HFMD's peak periods are in May and July.
8
Source:
Recent News related to China:
· Chinese officials report hand-foot-mouth disease claimed lives of at... (Fri, 07-02)
|
· China calls for increased measures following bird flu death (Fri, 06-18)
|
· China reports syphilis infections up 30 percent each year (Fri, 06-18)
|
· China reports new death from bird flu (Fri, 06-11)
|
· Enterovirus 71 outbreaks surface in China's special administrative regions... (Fri, 05-28)
|
· China's central Hunan province reports at least 23 deaths from hand-foot-mouth... (Fri, 04-23)
|
· Ninety-four children succumb to hand, foot and mouth disease in China (Fri, 04-16)
|
· China says TB project helped avoid 770,000 deaths (Fri, 01-22)
|
· Woman from southern China infected with H9 strain of bird flu (Fri, 11-06)
|
· Pneumonic plague outbreak kills three in northwestern China (Fri, 08-07)
|
· Fear of hand foot and mouth disease outbreak closes more than 100 schools... (Fri, 06-26)
|
|
