Hand-foot-mouth disease toll climbs to 114
A child being treated for hand, foot and mouth disease  at a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has so far this year claimed 114 lives from among more than 62,000 infections recorded nationwide.

According to the latest statistics from the Vietnam Administration of Preventive Medicine, around 20,000 new cases have been reported over the last month.

More than 90 percent of the HFMD cases in Vietnam are of children under five, it said.

On Thursday, Hanoi reported its second HFMD fatality – a 10-month-old boy in Dong Da District who died just six hours after being admitted to hospital.

The baby boy, whose three-year-old brother also contracted the HFMD viruses but later recovered, was taken to hospital with high fever after his condition worsened at home.

The same day, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases said it had recently received a number of adult patients who had contracted the disease after direct contact with sick children.

The adult patients have similar HFMD symptoms including fever, body ache, rash on hands and feet and oral lesions.
Thanh Nien News

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