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_|North KOREA: UNDIAGNOSED CHILDREN DEATHS|_
Epidemic spreads in N.K. border towns: aid group
SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) --
An unidentified epidemic is spreading along some North Korean towns bordering China, placing North Korean health authorities on high alert, a local aid group said Tuesday.
The disease, suspected to be avian influenza by some North Korean doctors or hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) by some others, has already taken the lives of many North Korean children under seven years old, the Buddhist group Good Friends said in its newsletter.
Every day since April 27, five to six children have died of the unidentified epidemic in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, the group said, quoting a doctor of a hospital in the city.
The disease is already common among young children in the neighboring city of Musan, according to the group.
North Korean health authorities, however, are poorly handling the spread of the epidemic, without even giving an exact diagnosis or cure, the group said.
"We diagnose the disease as avian influenza," it quoted a North Korean doctor in Hoeryong as saying. Patients show flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and no appetite, the doctor added.
"Yes, right. Bird flu is spreading," another doctor in Musan was quoted as saying. The disease is spreading mainly among state-run daycare centers and kindergartens, although no cases of adult infections have been reported, he added.
"I understand the authorities are trying to trace the root of the disease," he said.
But a third North Korean doctor was quoted as saying that HFMD from China may be spreading to North Korea's border areas, the aid group said.
HFMD has struck over 10,000 people resulting in 26 fatalities, all of them children, in recent months, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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SEOUL, June 3 (Yonhap) --
An unidentified epidemic is spreading along some North Korean towns bordering China, placing North Korean health authorities on high alert, a local aid group said Tuesday.
The disease, suspected to be avian influenza by some North Korean doctors or hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) by some others, has already taken the lives of many North Korean children under seven years old, the Buddhist group Good Friends said in its newsletter.
Every day since April 27, five to six children have died of the unidentified epidemic in Hoeryong, North Hamgyong Province, the group said, quoting a doctor of a hospital in the city.
The disease is already common among young children in the neighboring city of Musan, according to the group.
North Korean health authorities, however, are poorly handling the spread of the epidemic, without even giving an exact diagnosis or cure, the group said.
"We diagnose the disease as avian influenza," it quoted a North Korean doctor in Hoeryong as saying. Patients show flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and no appetite, the doctor added.
"Yes, right. Bird flu is spreading," another doctor in Musan was quoted as saying. The disease is spreading mainly among state-run daycare centers and kindergartens, although no cases of adult infections have been reported, he added.
"I understand the authorities are trying to trace the root of the disease," he said.
But a third North Korean doctor was quoted as saying that HFMD from China may be spreading to North Korea's border areas, the aid group said.
HFMD has struck over 10,000 people resulting in 26 fatalities, all of them children, in recent months, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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