11,905 Chinese get Virus, 26 Die - ALL CHILDREN (THE OLYMPICS are in CHINA this SUMMER!!!)

CNN reports:
BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Hand-foot-mouth disease has struck 11,905 people and has proved fatal in 26 cases, all of them children, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported Monday.
The official count has increased dramatically in recent days, the result of an order issued Friday by the Ministry of Health mandating that all cases be reported, said Tang Xiaoping, deputy head of the health bureau of Guangzhou.

Chinese health authorities have been dispatched to the worst-hit province, Anhui, in rural eastern China, where 22 of the fatalities have occurred, all of them blamed on enterovirus 71, or EV-71, one of the most common causes of HFMD.

The provincial health administration said all of the deaths in Anhui occurred in Fuyang City and that 1,314 of the 4,496 children infected in the city were hospitalized, Xinhua reported.

Of the total 5,840 child infections reported in the province, 689 were registered Sunday, it said.
The provincial government has quarantined people exposed to the virus and limited movement into and out of Fuyang, where the outbreak was first reported in mid-March.
Public health officials expect the number of cases to peak in June or July, since the disease thrives in warm weather.

It goes on, and you can read the whole article at: Whole article

The virus is a concern for Chinese officials as the nation prepares to host the Summer Olympic Games starting August 8.

On Saturday, China's Ministry of Health issued a pamphlet urging health bureaus to step up prevention and control efforts, Xinhua reported.

A large outbreak of HFMD occurred in Taiwan in 1998 with 78 deaths, and smaller outbreaks recurred there in 2000 and 2001, according to the CDC.

HOLY COW ~ SMOG and HFMD. I'd say, "I'm not going!"