Wang Yuanyuan

    CITY authorities have put in place an online reporting system to monitor the potentially fatal intestinal virus (hand, foot and mouth disease or HFMD), following a national rule, the city’s center for disease control and prevention (CDC) said yesterday.

    The scheme was announced right after the disease had been included in the third category of statutory infectious diseases by the Ministry of Health. As intestinal disease was not a statutory infectious disease, there are no previous figures to compare with.

    The online reporting system can help the CDC quickly control the spread of the disease, Dang Jiao, a public relations officer at the CDC, said yesterday.

    According to the CDC, a total of 518 cases of HFMD had been reported in Shenzhen by Sunday, none of which had been fatal. Most of the cases diagnosed in Shenzhen were Coxsackie virus (Cox A16) and just “a few” were enterovirus 71 (EV 71).

    She did not specify the number of patients diagnosed with EV 71, the virus that killed 22 children in Fuyang City, Anhui Province. EV 71 first appeared in March when young children were admitted to hospitals in Fuyang suffering from fever, rashes, blisters and mouth ulcers.

    Apart from HFMD, however, EV 71 can also result in diseases related to the nervous system, such as meningitis and poliomyelitis. Infected children, particularly those under 3 years old, can readily fall victim to serious complications after being infected by EV 71. Death can follow in a very short time.

    HFMD is extremely infectious in several ways, mainly through excrement and saliva transmitted on hands, towels, tooth brushes, toys, dishes and underwear. The spread of infection can be readily seen in kindergartens and within families.

    Parents and kindergartens should pay special attention to children’s hygiene and disinfect appliances and utensils used daily, said the CDC. May to August is the peak period for the disease each year.