FMD affects 6 pre-school kids in N. Cotabato

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines – Health authorities have been monitoring since Friday the entire town of Mlang town in this province after six pre-school children got afflicted with foot-and-mouth disease.

Blood samples have been taken from the children and were sent to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for evaluation, according to municipal health officer Glecerio Sotea.

“They have rashes in their hands, legs, foot and in their mouths, which are indicative of FMD,” Sotea said.

He said pre-school children are vulnerable to FMD infection, as he noted that they are documenting the suspected FMD cases, which was said to have originated in  Barangays Dugong, Poblacion II, and Bialong.

Sotea said he prescribed multivitamins and antibiotics to the patients.

The spread of FMD in Mlang came months after more than a hundred students of public schools in the area were afflicted with chikungunya, a mosquito-borne disease.