VietNamNet Bridge – The current outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease among children in HCM City is being caused by the coxsackie B2 virus and not EV71, doctors at Children's Hospital No 1 said on Sunday.
According to Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of the hospital's Infectious Diseases Ward, the B2 virus belongs to a group of pathogenic enteroviruses that trigger illness.


It is more dangerous than the EV71 virus, and makes a patient worsen or even die rapidly.


Since first discovering HFM in Viet Nam in 2004, doctors said it is caused by EV71 which creates rashes on the hands, feet, mouth, tongue, and inside of the cheeks.


Children with the disease will develop fever, headache, and fatigue and vomit.


There have been nine deaths due to the disease in the city this year, according to the Preventive Medicine Centre.


More than 1,300 kids have contracted the disease, many of them were hospitalised in serious condition, and 10 of them developed complications like encephalitis.


The Infectious Diseases Ward admits nearly 100 kids every day, double the number as recently as at the beginning of April.


The Children's Hospital No 2 admits around 100 children with the disease every day, and hooks up many of them on respirators.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News