Deadly virus infecting more children in China
The death toll from a viral illness that is infecting children around China has risen to 34, state media said today, as the number of reported infections jumped to nearly 25,000.
The latest deaths occurred in the hardest-hit central province of Anhui, where 22 children already have died of hand, foot and mouth disease, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The US Embassy said Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt was planning to visit Beijing next week to meet with Chinese officials to discuss relevant health issues, including the viral outbreaks.
Last night the number of reported cases jumped to 24,932, Xinhua said - a 25% increase from the day-earlier figure of 19,962.
Cases have cropped up in areas ranging from Guangdong province in the south to Jilin province in the north-east and major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.
Health experts have said they expect the number of reported infections to rise as a result of an order issued this week by the Ministry of Health requiring health care providers to report infections within 24 hours. The disease is expected to peak in the hot months of June and July.
Hand, foot and mouth disease spreads through contact with saliva, faeces, fluid secreted from blisters or mucus from the nose and throat.
There is no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children affected by the disease typically recover quickly without problems after suffering little more than a fever and rash.
Most of the cases in China have been blamed on enterovirus 71, a virus that can cause a severe form of the disease.
Last year, 80,000 hand, foot and mouth cases were recorded nationwide with 17 deaths, the health ministry has said. Spokesman Mao Qun'an said the figures were probably incomplete because reporting was not mandatory then.
The ailment is unrelated to the foot and mouth disease that affects livestock.
Susan Stevenson, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Beijing, said details of Leavitt's trip have not been worked out.
She said William Steiger, director of the Office of Global Health Affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services, told a group of Chinese journalists in Washington this week that the US "is glad to help when and if needed" during the hand, foot and mouth outbreaks.
