WHO finds virus link to Cambodia mystery disease
Cambodia: Health experts working to identify an illness that has
killed dozens of children in Cambodia found a link to a virus that
causes hand, foot and mouth disease, the UN health agency said Monday.
At least 52 children aged three months to 11 years have died from the
undiagnosed syndrome since mid-April, out of 59 cases, the World Health
Organization (WHO) and the Cambodian health ministry said, updating the
toll.
Recent laboratory results showed “a significant proportion of the
samples tested positive for Enterovirus 71 (EV-71)”, which causes a
lethal strain of hand, foot and mouth disease, the joint statement said.
EV-71 is common in Asia, but Nima Asgari, a public health specialist
for the WHO in Cambodia, told AFP he believed it had not been seen in
this country before.
AFP |