EV71 spreads rapidly

Via China Daily: Hand-foot-mouth cases rise to 11,905. Excerpt:

The number of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases reported in China this year has risen to 11,905 by Monday, resulting in 26 deaths, according to Xinhua counting of local official figures.

Tang Xiaoping, an epidemic expert and deputy head of the health bureau of Guangzhou, said the drastic rise is a result of an order by the Ministry of Health on Friday, which classifies HFMD as a C class epidemic that must be reported to the ministry.

Local health authorities were not required to report HFMD cases before the new order.

Zhejiang Province in east China said Monday that 1,198 children have been infected by HFMD this year, and that a five-year-old boy died on April 6.

According to the provincial health authority, nine of the reported cases were confirmed to have been triggered by enterovirus 71 (EV71), a highly contagious virus that preys on children usually aged between two and six.

Zhejiang registered 101, 793, and 1,607 cases of HFMD in 2005, 2006, 2007 respectively, said Zhao Feng, an official with the administration.

The worst-hit Anhui Province updated child infections to 5,840,including 689 new cases registered on Sunday, according to statistics from the provincial health administration.

In Fuyang City alone, where 22 children have been killed by the epidemic since March 20, 4,496 children have been infected and 1,314 are still hospitalized.

The coastal province of Guangdong reported 1,692 cases, an increase of 767 from Sunday. Three boys were killed in the outbreak of the disease.

Tests have confirmed 25 of the 26 deaths were triggered by EV71.

So if hand-foot-mouth disease can be caused by something other than the EV71 virus, what is that other cause?

Comments

[Mike Coston]

Crof,

HFMD can is most often caused by the coxsackie virus A16, which generally produces mild symptoms.

EV71, which produces more severe cases, and may result in encephalitis or meningitis, or paralysis, started showing up in the mid to late 1990s in the Far East.

EV71 was first reported in 1974.

Interestingly, non-polio enteroviruses (62 have been identified: 23 Coxsackie A viruses, 6 Coxsackie B viruses, 28 echoviruses, and 5 other enteroviruses) are one of the most common infectious diseases in the world, probably only second to the common cold.

They frequently are the cause of influenza-like illnesses, and `summer colds'. Additionally, many people may be infected but asymptomatic.

Hope this helps.

[phytosleuth]

It might help to put this epidemic in perspective and look at the history of outbreaks in the past and also at the health condition of children in that part of China. Are these children at higher risk for some reason? Are they susceptible to other infections? What is health care, poverty, economics like in that part of China. The air looks very polluted there. Big steel industry area.