Intestinal virus kills 19 children in China

Mon Apr 28, 12:34 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Nineteen young children have died and nearly 800 others have fallen ill in a lethal intestinal virus outbreak in eastern China, state media reported Monday.

Hospitals in Fuyang city, Anhui province, started in early March to take in children with fever, blisters, mouth ulcers or rashes on the hands and feet. Some were diagnosed with brain, heart and lung damage, Xinhua news agency said.

By Saturday, there were 789 infections including 19 fatalities all aged under six, the report said. Some 204 children remain in hospital for further observation with four in critical condition.

Experts confirmed the virus is enterovirus 71, which may cause high fever, meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edema and paralysis in a small number of children, Xinhua said. It added there is no known treatment for the virus.

Schools, kindergartens and villages are being inspected for hygiene, and the government has earmarked three million yuan (430,000 dollars) for the control and prevention of the deadly virus, according to Xinhua.

Needs to pop about a billion more.

When I saw this on the wire this morning I though about Flights thread a couple of weeks ago, but didn't know if anyone would associate it.

Enterovirus 71 is basically the (Hand,) "Foot and Mouth disease" which affects humans.

Info from a few Goggle hits ........


Human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) was first isolated in 1969 and is most often associated with outbreaks of the mild childhood exanthem, hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). HEV71 is closely related to coxsackie virus A16 (CA16), the other major causative agent of HFMD, but unlike CA16, HEV71 is also associated with cases of acute neurologic disease including poliomyelitis-like paralysis, encephalitis, and aseptic meningitis. Although HEV71 outbreaks associated with small numbers of cases of severe neurologic disease were reported in the 1980s in Australia, Asia, and the United States,[4] mortality associated with such outbreaks was low, unlike earlier outbreaks in Bulgaria in 1975 and Hungary in 1978. Twenty years later in 1997, deaths associated with epidemics of HEV71-associated HFMD in Sarawak, Malaysia, followed closely by outbreaks with high mortality in Taiwan in 1998 and 2000, have raised considerable public concern about the virulence of this virus and the disease syndromes most recently attributed to it.



Symptoms

Enterovirus 71 is one of the causes of a mild illness called hand, foot and mouth disease which usually starts with a slight fever followed by blisters or ulcers in the mouth and on the hands and feet. However, in a small number of children it may cause high fever, meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain), encephalitis (inflammation of the brain itself), and paralysis.

The usual time between contact with the virus and the development of the illness is approximately 3-5 days. After fever develops it usually takes 1 - 3 days before meningitis occurs, but paralysis can occur within 10 - 30 hours after symptoms begin.

Transmission

Enterovirus 71 is usually spread by respiratory droplets, through contact with the fluid in the blisters or contact with infected faeces. The virus may continue to be excreted in the faeces for many weeks.

The virus can be in the faeces for at least 2 months after symptoms develop. A person is infectious for as long as the virus is present in the faeces.

Treatment

There is no proven treatment for the virus. Treatment usually focuses on the person's symptoms.



A simple sneeze or cough can spread this virus, so if the outbreak isn't contained quickly, the results could be thousands in a few weeks.

Which makes me wonder how large the quarantine area is that we aren't hearing about.........

And how much BS is going on that China "isn't" releasing

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Not going to China anytime soon.

We'll have our own outbreak before long, it's only a matter of time.