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.