Hong Kong - Hong Kong health officials on Wednesday warned of a record number of cases of the hand-foot-mouth disease which has so far killed 28 children in mainland China. Controller of the Centre for Health Protection, Thomas Tsang, said the government had introduced several measures to stop the spread of the enterovirus or EV71 virus which leads to hand-foot-mouth disease.
More than 16,000 children in China have been infected with the EV71 virus with Anhui being the worst hit province.
Hong Kong has so far recorded only 12 cases and no fatalities but experts fear the number could rise, especially after this weekend when thousands of Hong Kong people are expected to cross the border to China for a long weekend marking Buddha's Birthday.
Tsang said the government was highly concerned about the current situation regarding the EV71 virus in neighbouring places around Hong Kong
"It appears regionally speaking we are in for a high year as far as case of the enterovirus virus and hand-foot-mouth are concerned," he said.
"We certainly regard this as one of biggest challenges as we know the summer is the peak season for such infection."
Tsang said a series of hygiene measures had been implemented in schools, hospitals and childcare centres and urged the public to take every precaution to prevent infection.
Hong Kong records a handful of cases a year of hand-foot-mouth disease which are usually imported from neighbouring South-East Asian countries.
The disease, transmitted through saliva, blister fluid and faeces, mainly affects infants and young children and is life-threatening only in a very small number of cases.
It is usually quickly diagnosed and treated and the deaths in China are believed to be the result of low awareness of the virus.
During the 2003 SARS outbreak, people travelling the busy border between China and Hong Kong brought the disease to the former British colony where it killed 299 and infected 1,755.
