Deadly virus infects 4 Pinoy kids

Four children in Metro Manila may have been afflicted with a viral disease that killed a number of kindergarten pupils in Singapore and Malaysia between Sept. 12 and Oct. 2.

Health Secretary Alfredo Romualdez told reporters yesterday two children in Marikina City and another two in Mandaluyong City have "tested positive" for the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

In Singapore, the government closed down kindergartens after four children died from the disease, while in Malaysia parents kept their children from kindergartens after three children died in Kuala Lumpur.

Romualdez said stool and saliva specimens from the afflicted children will be sent to a World Health Organization Center in Australia for testing to determine if the virus is the same as the one detected in Singapore and Malaysia.

Romualdez said the public should not be alarmed as he had already sent a team from the health department’s Field and Epidemiology Training Program to investigate and confirm the reported cases of HFMD infections.

Romualdez said the HFMD is a disease caused by the Coxsackle virus or the Enterovirus 71 which usually occur in children under 10 years old.

However, the virus may also strike at adults, he added.

Romualdez said the disease’s symptoms include blisters in the mouth and reddish blisters in the hands and feet, as well as fever, poor appetite, runny nose, and sore throat.

All these will appear after a five-day incubation period, he added.

Romualdez said the virus is spread by direct contact with nose and throat discharges and the feces of infected persons, and that treatment is symptomatic and aimed at controlling fever and facilitating oral hydration.

Preventive measures include isolation of infected persons, good hygiene, thorough washing of the hands before eating, handling and preparing of food, after using the toilet and after changing a child’s diaper, he said. – Ella Oducayen