An intestinal virus has killed 20 children and affected 1520 others in Fuyang City, Anhui Province. According to Xinhua, the virus is enterovirus 71, or EV71. What’s alarming about this disease is that it causes a range of other, serious, diseases.
says:
Of the sick, 585 had recovered thus far. At present, 412 sick children have remained in hospital for further medical observation. Of the total, 26 are seriously ill.
Symptoms include ulcers, rashes on hands and feet, and a mild fever. All victims were under six years old, with most being under two.
Relative to the number of people affected, the high rate of hospitalization is significant. The death rate is comparatively low, but because of the serious complications, which include paralysis, encephalitis and meningitis, this is a very high maintenance virus.
This is the problem:
Paralysis is more common in children under two years and meningitis is more common in children between two and five. Infection could lead to high mortalities rates in serious cases and neither a vaccine nor therapeutic treatment is available.
In such young children, these conditions can do real damage, as well as kill.
No source of infection has been identified for the virus.
Serious conditions like meningitis and encephalitis are no minor concern, in terms of epidemiology, either. Being a virus, it has the potential to become an endemic disease. It could also, theoretically, become a spreading endemic disease, if it’s proven contagious.
China is understandably taking the outbreak very seriously. Daily reporting has been introduced to monitor the outbreak.
The current article is an update. Xinhua ran two articles prior to that piece. (They're below it, on the linked page)
This is a quote from one of the previous articles:
The Ministry of Health sent a team in mid-April, and they have been working with health workers to find the cause of the infection.
Chen Zhu, Minister of Health, on Saturday visited Fuyang to oversee work.
Fuyang has set up a leading group for control and prevention of the lethal virus, backed with 3 million yuan (about 428,571 U.S. dollars) from Anhui Province and Fuyang City.
Other efforts to stop the infection spreading include improved disease monitoring, more epidemiological surveys and lab tests.
Schools, kindergartens and villages are being inspected for hygiene.
Who needs bird flu?
Severe outbreak of intestinal virus in China
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