China raises alert against fatal virus SHANGHAI- China ordered authorities across the nation on Saturday to fight hand, foot and mouth disease, after a rapidly spreading outbreak killed at least 23 children and infected nearly 4,000. The Ministry of Health said cases of the disease might increase in coming months. It ordered health authorities across the country to report all cases within 24 hours. Officials would visit nurseries and primary schools to educate staff on hygiene and prevention steps, and Chinese scientists would step up research into the disease. In Fuyang, 22 children have died from hand, foot and mouth disease and 3,321 have been infected, of which 978 were in hospital and 58 were critically ill or in serious condition, the ministry said. The disease began spreading in Anhui in early March, but a delay in reporting it to the public until last weekend triggered criticism from the media. Hand, foot, and mouth disease, characterized by fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters, is a common illness among infants and children and is usually not fatal, according to the National Center for Infectious Diseases in the United States. But complications stemming from infection with the enterovirus 71, or EV71, were responsible for the deaths in Fuyang.
