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Heard this one on the news yesterday, so far only children and in Cambodia. Major scary and major lethal. All it would take is tourist too fly it back home , where ever in the world.
Children’s Deaths in Cambodia Linked to Virus
he investigation of a mystery disease that has killed dozens of children in Cambodia is advancing after the discovery in patient samples of a virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease. The Institut Pasteur du Cambodge found enterovirus 71 in 15 of 24 patients sampled since mid-June, Philippe Buchy, head of the Phnom Penh-based institute’s virology unit, said yesterday by phone. The virus is known to cause the symptoms seen in the deaths of more than 60 children across the country since April, he said.
“This information is valuable and will help the investigation tremendously,” said Nima Asgari, leader of the emerging diseases surveillance and response group at the World Health Organization in Cambodia, which is working with the local Ministry of Health to review the illness.
The investigation team is now reviewing cases in which the patients died before tests were done to ensure they “at least clinically and epidemiologically” fit the hand, foot and mouth disease profile, Asgari said in an e-mailed response to questions.
The country’s health ministry announced July 4 that it was working with the World Health Organization to actively investigate the cause of the deaths. Preliminary findings had identified 74 cases, the World Health Organization said in a July 6 statement, with the majority of the patients hospitalized in the Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh.
“We have now to see what really is causing the deadly pulmonary complication and see if a toxic factor is playing a role too,” Beat Richner, head of the hospital, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
‘Total Destruction’
Of 66 children admitted to the hospital with similar symptoms, 64 have died, most of them between the ages of two and three, Richner said. The children developed “in the last hours of their life a total destruction of the alveolas in the lungs.”
Children admitted to hospitals with symptoms including high fever, breathing difficulty and neurological problems had rapid deterioration of respiratory function, Joy Rivaca Caminade, a technical officer with WHO’s Regional Office for the Western Pacific in Manila, said July 6. The affected children suffered from encephalitis, Richner said.
Outside the hospital buildings yesterday, dozens of children and parents walked throughout the hospital grounds, while families sat in the shade to avoid the afternoon sun as they waited to hear news about their loved ones. Guards only allowed one visitor per patient into the buildings.
Mao Nath, 31, had traveled from Kampot province, about 121 kilometers (75 miles) from the Cambodian capital, to accompany her 10-year-old nephew sick with tetanus.
“I’ve heard about this strange disease and I’m concerned my nephew may also catch it,” she said while sitting on a green mat with three small children.
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Originally Posted by SLV^GLD
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