Tuesday, July 10, 2012
An experimental vaccine for Enterovirus 71 - linked to the mystery disease that has killed 52 children in Cambodia since April - is undergoing clinical trials in the mainland and Taiwan.
The vaccine is likely to be on the market sooner than any drugs, said virology professor Malik Peiris at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health.
The Cambodian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization announced yesterday in Phnom Penh that laboratory results of all hospitalized cases from April to last Thursday revealed "a significant portion of the samples tested positive for EV71, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease."
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Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection has told doctors to remain vigilant of "febrile patients returning from Cambodia with respiratory and/or neurological symptoms."
Peiris said the virus does not have to be some "new mutant strain because we know EV71 can cause this type of problem." In 1998, about 200 children died during an outbreak in Taiwan, he said.
Sufferers develop brain stem encephalitis and respiratory distress within hours.
Meanwhile, 15 Hongkongers, among a 32-member tour group to Cambodia last month, have been diagnosed with bacterial dysentery after complaining of fever, diarrhea and vomiting. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=124187&sid=36977414&con_type=1&d_str=20120710&fc=2
