WHO links children's disease to hand, foot and mouth
Phnom Penh - Researchers have found a link between an unidentified illness that has killed almost 60 children in Cambodia and the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease, officials said Monday.
Fifteen of 24 affected children had tested positive for enterovirus 71, known to cause hand, foot and mouth, said Philippe Buchy, head of virology at the Cambodian branch of the Pasteur Institute.
The finding was first announced late Sunday in a joint statement by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Ministry. Buchy said full findings would be available Tuesday.
"It's shining a strong light into the situation for us to see what's going on," said Nima Asgari, a WHO public health specialist, adding that investigations were ongoing.
"It's showing that there is a specific pathogen causing a disease in those who are tested."
More than 59 children have been affected since April by the disease, of whom 52 had died, with most under 3 years old, the government said.
But Swiss paediatrician Beat Richner, the founder of the Kantha Bopha children's hospitals who alerted authorities about the illness, said his staff had recorded 62 deaths, and the survival of just two patients out of a total of 64.
The WHO issued a global alert on Wednesday about the illness, whose symptoms include high fever, respiratory and neurologic symptoms, and rapid deterioration of respiratory functions.//DPA
