Re: China: HFMD cases
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...5362MP20090407
Child disease outbreak kills 18 in China's Henan
Tue Apr 7, 2009 7:41am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Eighteen children from central China's Henan province have died in an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease that could claim more victims as its spreads in summer heat, state media reported on Tuesday.
The disease is a common childhood illness and rarely fatal, but it can cause fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters, and severe forms of the virus can be deadly if not properly treated.
Henan is a rural province crowded with poor farmers, and is the center of China's latest outbreak of the disease, which killed 40 children nationwide last year, spreading alarm among parents who accused officials of indifference and cover-ups.
The dead were among nearly 20,000 cases of the disease confirmed in Henan, including 5,965 in hospital, as of Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
A province official warned worse may come.
"As the weather warms, cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in Henan may rise further," a vice governor of Henan, Song Xuantao, told Xinhua. "The situation facing prevention and treatment is very grim."
In late March, Minquan County in Henan said one child there had died from the disease. But a report on state radio accused officials there of covering up the problem, including more deaths.
Now Minquan has confirmed 8 children there have died from hand, foot and mouth disease, the Xinhua report said. They were among the 18 dead reported by Henan.
Earlier this year, a 17-month-old boy died of the disease in Lixin county in neighboring Anhui province.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healt...5362MP20090407
Child disease outbreak kills 18 in China's Henan
Tue Apr 7, 2009 7:41am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - Eighteen children from central China's Henan province have died in an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease that could claim more victims as its spreads in summer heat, state media reported on Tuesday.
The disease is a common childhood illness and rarely fatal, but it can cause fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters, and severe forms of the virus can be deadly if not properly treated.
Henan is a rural province crowded with poor farmers, and is the center of China's latest outbreak of the disease, which killed 40 children nationwide last year, spreading alarm among parents who accused officials of indifference and cover-ups.
The dead were among nearly 20,000 cases of the disease confirmed in Henan, including 5,965 in hospital, as of Monday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
A province official warned worse may come.
"As the weather warms, cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in Henan may rise further," a vice governor of Henan, Song Xuantao, told Xinhua. "The situation facing prevention and treatment is very grim."
In late March, Minquan County in Henan said one child there had died from the disease. But a report on state radio accused officials there of covering up the problem, including more deaths.
Now Minquan has confirmed 8 children there have died from hand, foot and mouth disease, the Xinhua report said. They were among the 18 dead reported by Henan.
Earlier this year, a 17-month-old boy died of the disease in Lixin county in neighboring Anhui province.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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