Beijing reported 325 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in
the first week of June, a sharp rise from the 89 cases reported in
the same period of last year, the local health authority said.
Most of the patients were children at nurseries, kindergartens
or primary schools, and nearly 90 percent of them were under five,
Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said in a press release on
Friday.
The bureau said more cases could be reported in the coming weeks
because the virus, which typically causes painful blisters around
the mouth, throat, hands and feet, spreads more easily in the
summer heat.
Beijing's high temperature has been hovering at 36 degrees
Celsius for the past week.
The health bureau has told local hospitals to step up their
guard against the disease, and warned parents and teachers to take
preventive measures such as frequent handwashing.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is characterized by fever, mouth
sores and a rash with blisters. It is spread by direct contact with
nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the
stool of infected persons. The illness is not related to foot and
mouth disease, which infects cattle, sheep and swine.
The disease killed three children in the eastern Shandong
Province in May, when an outbreak hit at least 1,263 children in
the city of Linyi.
(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)