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Beijing: New outbreaks in China reported yesterday put the number of children infected with hand, foot and mouth disease above 15,000 even as the death toll rose to 28 across the country.
A 2-year-old girl in the southern province of Hunan died of the disease after failing to recover from a coma, the provincial health bureau said on its website.
Another death was reported in the neighbouring Guangxi region, Guangxi health officials said but did not give any details. The official Xinhua News Agency said the victim was a 3-year-old boy who died on Saturday.
Two kindergartens in Beijing were temporarily shut down on Tuesday after children there showed symptoms of the disease, Xinhua said. There have been 1,482 cases in Beijing, most in kindergartens, it said.
So far, 15,799 cases of the disease have been reported throughout the country this year, Xinhua said.
Most of the 28 deaths have been blamed on enterovirus 71 (EV-71), one of several viruses that cause the disease, Xinhua said. EV-71 can result in a more serious form of hand, foot and mouth that can lead to paralysis, brain swelling or death. Although nearly all the deaths have been blamed on EV-71, it was not immediately clear how many of the overall infections were traced to it.
Xinhua said the jump in cases was due in part to a new regulation from the Ministry of Health classifying hand, foot and mouth disease among those that have to be reported to the central government. Enterovirus causes a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease with symptoms including fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters. It is easily spread by sneezing or coughing. The viruses mainly strike children aged 10 and younger.
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