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Outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease claims first Malaysian victim |
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October 7, 2000
KUALA LUMPUR, OCT 6 (UNB/AP) - Health authorities scrambled Friday to prevent an outbreak of the highly infectious hand, foot and mouth disease from spreading after a three-year-old Malaysian boy was confirmed to have died from it. A recent outbreak of the viral disease in neighboring Singapore has already killed four children and prompted authorities there to close down schools and other public places where children gather. Teo Ching Kai died in Tuesday at a hospital in Johor Bahru, the southern Malaysian city separated from Singapore by a strip of water. Authorities were investigating to see if he had had any contact with people from Singapore. Health Minister Chua Jui Meng said Friday that blood tests had confirmed that the boy, who had battled high fever for a week and showed tell-tale lesions on his hands, feet and mouth, had become the first Malaysian child to die in the current outbreak. The national deputy-director for public health, Muhamad Tahar Arif, was sent to Johor Bahru to meet hospital, school and child-care officials to work out precautionary measures to stop the outbreak from spreading. "Since his parents don't work in Singapore, we cannot say if the virus originated from Singapore," Dr. Nooraini Baba, a senior assistant health director, was quoted by the Star newspaper as saying. Hand foot and mouth disease is not usually serious, but can have potentially fatal complications such as meningitis, encephalitis and inflammation of the heart muscles. Symptoms include fever, sore throat and sometimes blistering rashes on the hands and feet. It can be spread through direct contact with nasal discharge, saliva, feces and blister fluid. In Singapore, authorities have temporarily closed all kindergartens, child-care centers, nursery schools, fast-food restaurants, wading pools and other public places where children gather. As of Wednesday, 229 cases had been reported. More than 50 children died in Taiwan during an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in 1998, and 30 succumbed in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo island in 1997. |