Hand-foot-mouth disease has claimed the lives of 18 Chinese children so far this year, as the disease has spread across the country, the Ministry of Health said Friday.

A kid receives  examination in a hospital in Henan.

The ministry recorded 41,846 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease in 30 provinces and regions, excluding Tibet, in the past three months, ministry spokesman Deng Haihua said.

About 94 percent of the patients were children under five years old, 75 percent were affected by the virus EV71, and 94 suffered severe symptoms, Deng told a press conference in Beijing.

Compared with the figures last year, the outbreak of the disease seemed to come early. The number of the hand-foot-mouth cases was still increasing, and would reach its peak from May to July, he said.

The disease reportedly infected more than 500,000 children in China last year and killed almost 200, China Daily reported Wednesday.

The disease had spread to a wider area, mainly in rural areas, Deng said, adding that a fifth of the cases reported this year were in central Henan Province and eastern Shandong Province.

He said the disease is highly contagious among children and spread easily in the underdeveloped areas with poor health care facilities and weaker public awareness.

From Jan. 1 to March 26, Henan reported 4,761 cases with seven children dead and Shandong reported 3,280 cases with five children dead.

Yang Weizhong, deputy-director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Chinese researchers are speeding up their efforts in developing vaccine targeting EV71 virus.

The hand-foot-mouth disease has the highest incidence rate among children under three years old. The virus is usually transmitted through digestive and respiratory systems, or through intimate contact, and starts with a slight fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on the hands and feet.

Children who contracted EV71 often show serious symptoms. The virus could also lead to meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edema and paralysis in some children.

 

A kid receives examination in a hospital in Henan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2009)