WHO links children's disease to hand, foot and mouth
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Phnom Penh - Researchers have found a link between anunidentified illness that has killed almost 60 children in Cambodiaand the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease, officialssaid Monday.
Fifteen of 24 affected children had tested positive forenterovirus 71, known to cause hand, foot and mouth, said PhilippeBuchy, head of virology at the Cambodian branch of the PasteurInstitute.
The finding was first announced late Sunday in a joint statementby the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Health Ministry. Buchysaid full findings would be available Tuesday.
"It's shining a strong light into the situation for us to seewhat'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 diseasein those who are tested." More than 59 children have been affected since April by thedisease, of whom 52 had died, with most under 3 years old, thegovernment said.
But Swiss paediatrician Beat Richner, the founder of theKantha Bopha children's hospitals who alerted authorities about theillness, said his staff had recorded 62 deaths, and the survival ofjust 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 neurologicsymptoms, and rapid deterioration of respiratory functions
