Boy Found Infected with EV71 in HK

I have been working really hard in tracking the spread of the hand, foot, and mouth disease in China.

You can read all the reports at this link: Worldview


Here is a sample from the recent headlines:

New outbreaks reported Tuesday in three Chinese provinces and Beijing put the number of children infected with hand, foot and mouth disease above 12,000 and the death toll has risen to at least 26 across the country.

But then we had this update reported:

The number of cases across China has climbed to 15,799, up from 12,000 reported on Tuesday. Officials said that the rise was due to tighter rules on reporting and not because of the spread of the infection.


During my research into this story I found this report:


China county accused of child virus cover-up

BEIJING, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese state media accused a local government on Tuesday of covering up the number of children suffering from hand, foot and mouth disease and the number of deaths.

The government of Minquan county in central Henan province said only one child was killed by the virus, but there may be at least 10 more deaths cases in the region, the official China National Radio said on its website (www.cnr.cn).

"(The death toll) should be no less than double figures," the report said, citing anonymous hospital sources. Double figures in Chinese means more than 10.

Hand, foot and mouth is a common childhood illness and rarely fatal, but it can cause fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters.

There were possibly more than 2,000 children who had been infected by the disease, contradicting the official number of 277, since January, the report added, citing two doctors in Minquan People's Hospital.

Several officials had been punished for "failing to act" to contain the disease, the official Xinhua news agency said.


Now I was sent a question in which the person asked this,
Why is the hand, foot, and mouth disease killing people in China when it is usally not fatal?

Good question!

It seems to have to do with the strand of the disease:

The recent outbreak in China of enterovirus 71 has been called Hand, foot and mouth disease. HFMD is a common illness in infants and children. In most cases it is a mild condition that doesn’t require medical treatment and goes away in 7 to 10 days.
While HFMD is a common ailment of children and is widespread in North American daycares the virus in China is the EV71 which is a much more serious form. The main concern isn’t the virus itself but the syndromes that can come from it including acute flaccid paralysis (similar to paralytic poliomyelitis), bulbar and brain encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and rapidly fatal pulmonary edema and hemorrhage.


Now we have the EV71 in Hong Kong

Boy Found Infected with EV71 in HK


The Center for Health Protection (CHP) of the Hong Kong's Department of Health Tuesday confirmed a case of Enterovirus-71 (EV71) infection involving a 10- year-old boy and urged the public to be vigilant against the disease.

A CHP spokesman said the boy had presented with fever and rash over his hands and feet since March 25. He was admitted to hospital on March 29 and is now in stable condition.

His throat swab specimen tested positive for EV71.

There was no Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFMD) outbreak in the primary school that the boy attended and his family contacts had no symptoms of HFMD.

This is the ninth case reported to the CHP this year. There were 16 cases of EV71 in 2006, 12 in 2007 and 98 in 2008 respectively in Hong Kong


This situation is one that should be watched as I am sure their will be more developments.



more to come...






[edit on 31-3-2009 by tsrk30]