Malaysia has reportedly been put on a nationwide alert following a hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreak.
The Star Online reports that last week — from June 5 to 11 —the number of cases increased by 83 from the previous week, bringing the total to 1,379 cases.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was quoted as saying that the spike began in the week of April 24 to 30 which saw 794 cases. The situation then closed the warning level or ‘Alert level, the news site said.
“Following that, the Ministry had issued warning letters on the increasing number of HFMD cases on May 9 to all state health departments so that they step up monitoring efforts and prevent it from spreading,” he said in a statement.
The report quoted Dr Hisham as saying that Selangor recorded the highest number of HFMD cases at 4,441 (32.6%), followed by Johor, 1,393 (10.2%), Kuala Lumpur, 1,317 (9.7%), Sabah, 1,299 (9.5%) and Sarawak 1,108 (8.1%).
Patients with HFMD, a common infectious disease of infants and children, display symptoms that include fever, painful sores in the mouth, and a rash with blisters on hands, feet and also buttocks.
