Death toll in China HFMD outbreak hits 34
Posted: 09 May 2008 1249 hrs

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BEIJING: The number of Chinese children confirmed dead from hand, foot and mouth disease has risen to 34 with nearly 25,000 people infected but the outbreak's spread may be slowing, state media said on Friday.

Xinhua news agency reported four new deaths, including an eight-month-old girl in southern China's Guangdong province and a one-year-old boy in the southwestern Guangxi region.

Two more children also had died in the hard-hit eastern province of Anhui, it said, adding that the number of cases nationwide had risen to 24,934 as of Thursday.

However, the national Health Ministry said those discharged from hospitals in Anhui now exceeded new cases for the first time.

Most new cases there also were less severe than previously, it said in a statement on its website.

Symptoms of the highly contagious disease include fever and sores. It can result in death in children due to their less-developed immune systems.

The disease is common in China. More than 80,000 cases were reported last year, with 17 deaths.

However, its rapid spread across a vast region, including the capital Beijing just months before the city hosts the Olympics in August, has prompted the government to issue a national alert.

The World Health Organisation has said there is little fear of a devastating outbreak.

The China Daily newspaper Friday quoted a US official as saying the Department of Health and Human Services had offered its help in containing the disease, which will be on the agenda during a visit to Beijing next week by the department's chief, Mike Leavitt.

Most of the deaths have involved enterovirus 71, or EV71, which can lead to acute hand, foot and mouth disease and was identified early on by China as a key factor in the severity of the outbreak.

However, it seems now to have turned into a more general spread of hand, foot and mouth disease, according to state press reports.

Cases first emerged in large numbers in eastern China in early March but the problem was not made public until last week, prompting state press to accuse local officials of dragging their feet on raising the alarm.

Anhui has been hit hardest, with 22 deaths occurring in its city of Fuyang alone. - AFP/ac