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Kuala
Lumpur - A virulent enterovirus never detected before locally
killed a child who contracted the hand, foot and mouth disease
(HFM) recently and may have been responsible for the death
of three others, a report said Wednesday.Specialist virologist
Dr Peter McMimm of the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children
in Perth, Australia, confirmed this on Tuesday after extensive
tests in the past seven days, according to the Malaysia's
Star daily. Dr McMimm said he was leaving it to the Health
Ministry in Kuala Lumpur to reveal the name of the enterovirus.
He said Dr K.B. Chua of Universiti Hospital's department
of microbiology, with whom he worked, would have to brief
the Ministry and Universiti Hospital authorities first.
He said only one of the samples taken to Perth by Dr Chua
yielded positive results.
Dr McMimm
said precautionary measures carried out by health authorities
in Malaysia were sufficient to contain the disease. "Considering
that the number of cases has been declining, the measures
taken have been effective. "This virus, while not new,
is one of the less common strains. Although never before
detected in Malaysia, it has shown up in other parts of
the world."
Dr McMimm
said the EV71 enterovirus which caused four of the 31deaths
in the East Malaysia's state of Sarawak in a 1997 outbreak
had been ruled out in the samples tested in Perth.
There
are currently 66 types of enteroviruses known to cause the
HFM disease. Among the more common are Coxsackie A4, Coxsackie
A9, Coxsackie A15 and Coxsackie A16. An anti-serum was used
in the tests at Princess Margaret Hospital. The hospital
had also helped identify the EV71 virus in 1997.
Four
children have died in Malaysia due to the recent outbreak
of HFM.
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