China orders nationwide fight against fatal virus

Another major outbreak of something disgusting. Really disgusting! Thank the Lord it is not very fatal.

Khaleej Times Online - China orders nationwide fight against fatal virus: "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.

'Our doctors will leave hospitals to find potential patients rather than sitting in the hospitals to wait for them,' deputy health minister Liu Qian told state television in the worst-hit area, Fuyang city in the eastern province of Anhui.

The Ministry of Health said cases of the disease might increase in coming months, because June and July were the peak season for it. Cases in some Chinese provinces, as well as Taiwan and Singapore, are running above year-ago levels, it said.

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."