Coxsackie virus causes panic

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan: Coxsackie, a virus related to poliomyelitis, has caused locals to panic especially after the rumored death of a child last week, Antara reported yesterday.

Local health authorities have denied the rumor.

"No single baby or child below five years old has died because of coxsackie virus, and the death of a child in Sudarso Hospital last Saturday was not caused by the virus," the provincial health director H.M. Torisz said.

The rumor was triggered by news that the virus had claimed lives in Sarawak, the Malaysian state bordering West Kalimantan.

Torsiz said the health department would send a team to villages in Entikong and other border areas to find out whether locals had caught the virus.