64 of the 66 Cases have ended in death over the past three months.
Something is killing Cambodian Children.NWO-Controlled media report:Mysterious deadly illness in Cambodian children tied to hand, foot and mouth diseasehttp://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57468483-10391704/mysterious-deadly-illness-in-cambodian-children-tied-to-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease/July 9, 2012 9:37 AM
(CBS/AP) A mysterious deadly disease striking children in Cambodia may be a virulent strain of a common childhood illness called hand, foot and mouth disease.
The mysterious illness that has killed dozens of Cambodian children may be a deadly strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, a common childhood illness. Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of the disease called EV-71 was responsible for some of the 59 cases of illness reviewed in Cambodia since April, including 52 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Cambodian Health Ministry.
The numbers of cases and deaths have been scaled down since an initial report put the caseload at 62. Epidemiologists are now interviewing parents and still trying to determine a cause for all the cases; in many, relevant medical information may have been omitted and not all the children were tested before they died. “As far as I’m aware, EV-71 was not identified as a virus in Cambodia before,” Dr. Nima Asgari, who is leading the WHO investigation, told the Associated Press.
The Institut Pasteur in Cambodia tested samples taken from 24 patients and found that 15 came back positive for EV-71.
(MORE: Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave)
EV-71 has been reported in other regions of Asia, including Vietnam and China. This strain of the disease can cause paralysis, brain swelling and death. In Cambodia, most affected children were under age 3, and many experienced severe respiratory symptoms that escalated quickly; some also developed neurological symptoms.
Hand, foot and mouth disease gets its name from a rash that appears on infected persons’ palms and soles (sometimes with blisters), along with painful, red, blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums and inside of the cheeks. Asgari told the AP that blistering was reported in only some of the Cambodian cases, but that steroids administered by doctors could have masked the symptom.
Early symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include fever, followed by sore throat and sometimes a poor appetite and malaise. One or two days after the fever begins, painful sores may develop in the mouth or throat, and rashes may then appear within one or two days after that. The usual incubation period — the time from infection to first symptoms — is about three to seven days.
(MORE: Study: Preschoolers’ Sack Lunches Reach Unsafe Temperatures)
The disease, which is caused by enteroviruses — the same family as polio — is moderately contagious and is spread through sneezing, coughing and contact with blisters or infected fecal material. Although no vaccine or specific treatment exists, the disease is typically mild and most children recover in 7 to 10 days without medical treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC notes also that children with hand, foot and mouth disease are most contagious during the first week of illness, but can continue to spread the disease long after symptoms have disappeared because the viruses that cause it can remain in the feces for weeks. Also, infected people who show no symptoms of the disease can still spread the viruses to others.
Hand, foot and mouth disease should not be confused with foot-and-mouth disease which affects cattle, sheep and swine.
Although the U.S. is not experiencing a similar outbreak, hand, foot and mouth disease can be contracted by anyone. Between November 2011 and February 2012, the CDC received reports of 63 people with symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Alabama, California, Connecticut and Nevada.
To prevent the disease, the CDC recommends:
Washing your hands often, especially after changing diapers
Thoroughly cleaning objects and surfaces (toys, doorknobs, etc.) that may be contaminated with a virus that causes the disease
Avoiding close contact (like kissing and hugging) with people who are infected
MORE: Bad Food: Illnesses from Imported Food are on the Rise, CDC Says
Read other related stories about this:
Cambodian Deaths Tied to Common Child Illness The Associated Press What Is the ‘Mystery Illness’ Killing Cambodian Children? The Washington Post
Officials Make Break in Baffling Disease Killing Cambodian Children CNN
Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of hand, foot and mouth disease known as Enterovirus 71 (E-71) is to blame for some of the 59 cases reviewed since April, officials from the World Health Organization and Cambodian Ministry of Health said in a statement Sunday.
Unknown illness kills more than 60 Cambodian children, health officials say
Officials said of the 59 cases of children reviewed, 52 died. Previously officials said 61 out of 62 children infected with the mystery ailment had died.
EV-71 is a virus associated with severe outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease that can cause paralysis, brain swelling and death. Most of the Cambodian cases involved children younger than 3 who experienced fever and respiratory problems that led to rapid shutdown and sometimes neurological symptoms. Children infected in the outbreak ranged from 3 months to 11 years old.
Epidemiologists are still trying to piece together information about the cases by interviewing parents because some details may have been omitted or missing from medical charts and specimens were not taken from most children before they died, said Dr. Nima Asgari, who is heading the WHO's investigation. Of 24 samples tested, 15 came back positive for EV-71.
"As far as I'm aware, EV-71 was not identified as a virus in Cambodia before," Asgari said, adding that based on the information now available it's likely that the majority of untested patients were infected with it.
"We are a bit more confident. We are hoping that we can come up with something a bit more conclusive in the next day or so," he said.
Hand, foot and mouth disease has been raging across Asia and usually causes a telltale rash. The disease is most common in children younger than 5, and younger kids tend to have worse symptoms. Within three to seven days, children may experience symptoms such as fever, poor appetite and sore throat that progresses to painful sores in the mouth. Typically located in the tongue, hums and inside the cheeks, the sores begin as small red spots that blister and often become ulcers. The rash usually is located on the hands and soles of the feet.
Blistering was only reported in some of the Cambodian cases, and it's possible that steroids administered by doctors could have masked the symptom or it may not have been recorded, Asgari said.
The lab results also identified other diseases in some cases, including mosquito-borne dengue fever and Streptococcus suis, a germ commonly seen in pigs that sometimes infects people, often causing meningitis and hearing loss.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is spread by sneezing, coughing and contact with fluid from blisters or infected feces. It is caused by enteroviruses in the same family as polio. No vaccine or specific treatment exists, but illness is typically mild and most children recover quickly without problems. Many infected children don't get sick but can spread it to others.
Neighboring Vietnam has been battling a surging number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases for the past few years, with EV-71 also wreaking havoc there. Last year, the disease sickened more than 110,000 people and killed 166, mostly children whose immune systems were not strong enough to fend off the infection.
China is also experiencing an outbreak, and more than 240 people have died of the disease there this year, according to China's Health Ministry.
The Cambodia investigation is continuing, but the H5N1 bird flu virus, SARS and Nipah - a deadly virus usually spread by fruit bats or pigs - have all been ruled out.
The CDC has more on hand, foot and mouth disease.
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NWO-Controlled media report:Officials Make Break In Baffling Disease Killing Cambodian Childrenhttp://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-cambodia-children-deaths,0,278686.storyCNN 3:57 a.m. PDT, July 9, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Health officials say they have made an important discovery in the mystery surrounding the deaths of 64 children in Cambodia.
The Institut Pasteur in Cambodia tested samples taken from 24 patients and found 15 had tested positive for Enterovirus Type 71 -- a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease that can also cause severe neurologic complications, mainly in children.
"These results now give a good explanation to this outbreak," Dr. Philippe Buchy, head of the institute's virology unit, said in an e-mail. "We will get more results hopefully by next Tuesday or Wednesday."
But an official with the World Health Organization cautioned that the outbreak has not been fully solved, and more analysis is needed.
Outbreaks "occur periodically in the Asia-Pacific region," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brunei had its first major outbreak in 2006. China had an outbreak in 2008.
Though the detection of EV71 in Cambodia is significant, there may be other factors, said Dr. Beat Richner of Kantha Bopha hospitals.
Over the past three months, 66 children -- between 2 and 3 years old -- were admitted to Kantha Bopha facilities. All but two died mysteriously after suffering
severe neurological and respiratory complications, Richner said.
In their last hours of their life, the children suffered a "total destruction of the alveola(e) in the lungs," Richner said.
"We have now to see what really is causing the deadly pulmonary complication and see if a toxic factor is playing a role too," he said.
The positive test for EV71 does not particularly help in the treatment of the illness, as there is no effective antiviral treatment for severe EV71 infections, and no vaccine is available.
In milder cases, EV71 can cause coldlike symptoms, diarrhea and sores on the hands, feet and mouth, according to the journal Genetic Vaccines and Therapy.
But more severe cases can cause fluid to accumulate on the brain, resulting in polio-like paralysis and death.
Adults' well-developed immune systems usually can fend off the virus, but children are vulnerable to it, according to the CDC.
Richner said the patients suffered from encephalitis, which is the inflammation of the brain.
On Sunday, a World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Cambodia warned the new discovery "does not mean we have solved the problem of the undiagnosed cases. A lot more analysis is needed, and further laboratory investigations need to be done."
Richner criticized WHO for previously making statements to the media "without being clear on the facts," the hospital official said in his statement Sunday.
"WHO was telling whole the world: New mystery killer disease in Cambodia! This was causing unnecessary panic in Cambodia," Richter wrote.
Richner has said the number of cases affected by the mysterious disease is relatively low -- 34 cases in June, compared with the 75,000 sick children at Kantha Bopha's outpatient clinics and 16,000 hospitalized kids.
But Pieter van Maaren with the WHO in Cambodia rejected suggestions that his organization caused any kind of panic. He said Richner was the one who stated, in a letter to the government, that the situation in Cambodia was "most severe."
"WHO has not made any statement about the disease, other than what we issued in the joint press release with the Ministry of Health," van Maaren said.
The ministry reported the outbreak to WHO through the International Health Regulations, which 194 nations are parties to, van Maaren said. "Since this event fitted the criteria of being an event where the underlying agent, disease or mode of transmission is not identified at the time, WHO is obliged to communicate information to other member states."
EV71 was first isolated in California in 1969, according to the CDC.
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NWO-Controlled media report:Cambodian Children’s Deaths Linked to Hand, Foot and Mouth Diseasehttp://healthland.time.com/2012/07/09/cambodian-childrens-deaths-linked-to-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease/By Alexandra Sifferlin | @acsifferlin | July 9, 2012
The mysterious illness that has killed dozens of Cambodian children may be a deadly strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, a common childhood illness. Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of the disease called EV-71 was responsible for some of the 59 cases of illness reviewed in Cambodia since April, including 52 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Cambodian Health Ministry.
The numbers of cases and deaths have been scaled down since an initial report put the caseload at 62. Epidemiologists are now interviewing parents and still trying to determine a cause for all the cases; in many, relevant medical information may have been omitted and not all the children were tested before they died. “As far as I’m aware, EV-71 was not identified as a virus in Cambodia before,” Dr. Nima Asgari, who is leading the WHO investigation, told the Associated Press.
The Institut Pasteur in Cambodia tested samples taken from 24 patients and found that 15 came back positive for EV-71.
(MORE: Drug-Resistant Bacteria Found in 4-Million-Year-Old Cave)
EV-71 has been reported in other regions of Asia, including Vietnam and China. This strain of the disease can cause paralysis, brain swelling and death. In Cambodia, most affected children were under age 3, and many experienced severe respiratory symptoms that escalated quickly; some also developed neurological symptoms.
Hand, foot and mouth disease gets its name from a rash that appears on infected persons’ palms and soles (sometimes with blisters), along with painful, red, blister-like lesions on the tongue, gums and inside of the cheeks. Asgari told the AP that blistering was reported in only some of the Cambodian cases, but that steroids administered by doctors could have masked the symptom.
Early symptoms of hand, foot and mouth disease include fever, followed by sore throat and sometimes a poor appetite and malaise. One or two days after the fever begins, painful sores may develop in the mouth or throat, and rashes may then appear within one or two days after that. The usual incubation period — the time from infection to first symptoms — is about three to seven days.
The disease, which is caused by enteroviruses — the same family as polio — is moderately contagious and is spread through sneezing, coughing and contact with blisters or infected fecal material. Although no vaccine or specific treatment exists, the disease is typically mild and most children recover in 7 to 10 days without medical treatment, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC notes also that children with hand, foot and mouth disease are most contagious during the first week of illness, but can continue to spread the disease long after symptoms have disappeared because the viruses that cause it can remain in the feces for weeks. Also, infected people who show no symptoms of the disease can still spread the viruses to others.
Hand, foot and mouth disease should not be confused with foot-and-mouth disease which affects cattle, sheep and swine.
Although the U.S. is not experiencing a similar outbreak, hand, foot and mouth disease can be contracted by anyone. Between November 2011 and February 2012, the CDC received reports of 63 people with symptoms of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Alabama, California, Connecticut and Nevada.
To prevent the disease, the CDC recommends:
Washing your hands often, especially after changing diapers
Thoroughly cleaning objects and surfaces (toys, doorknobs, etc.) that may be contaminated with a virus that causes the disease
Avoiding close contact (like kissing and hugging) with people who are infected
Read other related stories about this: Cambodian Deaths Tied to Common Child Illness The NWO-Controlled Associated Press What Is the ‘Mystery Illness’ Killing Cambodian Children? The NWO-controlled Washington Post Officials Make Break in Baffling Disease Killing Cambodian Children The NWO-controlled CNN
