Hand, foot and mouth disease in Vietnam claims latest victim

An infant has died from hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Vietnam, bringing the country\'s death toll from the virus to 17 this year, dpa quoted an official as saying on Friday. The 20-month-old girl died last week in Ho Chi Minh City, Phi Van Kien, an official from the Department of Preventive Health and Environment, told dpa. Cases of hand, foot and mouth disease have surged across all of Vietnam\'s provinces, infecting nearly 22,000 children in the first quarter of this year, nine times more than in the same period last year, while the number of fatalities was up threefold, the department said. All deaths were caused by the virulent enterovirus 71 (EV71) strain, which has been on the rise since last year. Children under 3 years old accounted for 88 per cent of fatalities and the remaining 12 per cent were 3 to 5 years old. On Thursday, the Ministry of Health held a meeting with paediatricians from across the country on how to fight the disease. \"Training courses on surveillance, prevention and control of HFMD for doctors as well as nurses at paediatric health care facilities is a must to restrain the number of deaths due to HFMD,\" Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said. The virus is transmitted through saliva, blister fluid and faeces, but it is rare among adults, whose immune systems are generally strong enough to fight it off. It is life-threatening in a small number of cases, owing to complications such as lung haemorrhages and meningitis. There is no vaccine or specific treatment, so hygiene and decontamination in homes and schools are the best way to fight contagion, the Ministry of Health said. Last year, hand, foot, and mouth killed 166 people in Vietnam, most of them children. The death toll was 10 times more than the previous year as the EV71 strain of the virus became more prevalent.