Killer virus continues to spread in Malaysia

Killer virus continues to spread in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The spread of a viral disease that has
killed seven children in Malaysia was showing no signs of abating
with more than 100 new cases reported in the last two days,
Malaysian newspapers said Saturday.

The southern Malaysian state of Johor had 200 cases of hand,
foot and mouth disease over the past week with 68 new ones
reported Thursday, the New Straits Times and Star newspapers
reported.

The others were in the states of Malacca, Selangor, Negeri
Sembilan, Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur, all in peninsular Malaysia.
Many of the states released local health department hotline
numbers to help ease public worries.

Medical experts were working with Australian counterparts to
identify the strain of the virus that has so far caused the
deaths of three children in Malaysia, the New Straits Times said.
Four children have died in neighboring Singapore, from where the
disease appears to have spread into Malaysia.

Despite the new cases, Malaysia's Deputy Director-General of
Health Mohamad Taha Arif told reporters the situation was still
under control and was not as bad as a previous outbreak that
killed 30 children in Sarawak on the island of Borneo three years
ago.

"It has not reached the stage where it hit ... in 1997. This
time we know what we are dealing with and prevention measures
have been applied accordingly," the Star quoted him as saying.

On Friday, Social Development Minister Siti Zaharah Sulaiman
called for a closure of 3,000 childcare centers and kindergartens
run nationwide by her ministry as a "precautionary measure to
prevent the disease from spreading."

But Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Saturday
withdrew the order, the national news agency Bernama reported.

"I understand that Siti Zaharah issued the directive as a
precautionary measure but then the public may think that the
disease had spread to the whole country," he said.

In Singapore, 1,725 cases had been reported as of Thursday and
nine children were in hospital, though the outbreak seemed to be
abating there.

Authorities in the city-state have closed down schools and
public places where children gather.

The disease is not usually life-threatening but can sometimes
involve potentially fatal complications such as meningitis,
encephalitis and inflammation of the heart muscles.

Symptoms include fever, sore throat and blistering rashes on
the hands and feet. The disease can be spread through direct
contact with nasal discharge, saliva, feces and fluid from the
blisters.

More than 50 children died in Taiwan during an outbreak of
this viral disease in 1998.