New virus found in Sarawak

New virus found in Sarawak

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuter): The death toll from a new virus strain
in Malaysia's Borneo state of Sarawak has climbed to 19, local
newspapers reported on Saturday.

Sarawak state director of medical and health services
department, Mohammed Taha Arif was quoted by the papers as saying
that two more infants succumbed to the Coxsackie B virus on
Thursday.

He said 29 children were in an isolation ward at the general
hospital in Sibu, a coastal town in Sarawak state.

The Coxsackie B virus has also struck children in the state
capital of Kuching and Sarikei in Sarawak.

The deputy chief minister of Sarawak George Chan Hong Nam said
experts from the World Health Organization and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will arrive in Sibu on
Monday to assist local health authorities in tackling the
infection, which started in April.

Kindergarten schools in Sibu have been ordered to close, while
primary schools in the affected areas have been told to consider
whether to close down the first three grades of their schools as
well.

The virus, which can be carried by air, was originally found
in infected food, health officials have said. Symptoms include
fever, nervous fits, paralysis and finally heart failure.