Image of the Day: The Painful Good Bye!

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) kills at least 50 babies in China with 115,000 more cases reported

A mother kisses her child who has a fatal form of hand, foot and mouth disease at a hospital in Hefei, Anhui province April 13, 2009. The disease has killed 50 children nationwide in the year to April 7, a Health Ministry official said, adding that a total of 115,000 cases have been reported, according to Xinhua News Agency. REUTERS/Stringer. Image may be subject to copyright.

Facts about hand, foot and mouth disease in China

• China has reported a  sudden rise in HFMD among young children.

• At least 50 deaths have been reported since January 2009.

• Figures show the virus has struck earlier than normal and the numbers are likely to growin the peak season between May and July, Xinhua News Agency quoted Health Ministry officials as saying.

• Health officials fear that the current strain is especially virulent.

• The health ministry has recorded 115,000 cases since January 2009

• Some 54,714 cases were reported in March alone, including 31 fatalities.

• About 95 percent of the patients are children under age 5.

• In 2008 at least 27,000 children were sickened by the virus, Xinhua reported with dozens killed  by May 2008 [The actual casualty figure is a state secret.]

• The worst hit areas this year are rural areas in the provinces of   Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang.

• Symptoms of HFMD include fever, mouth sores and skin rashes with blisters.  It is spread by direct contact with mucus, throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or feces of infected people, and has an  incubation period of about seven days.

• There are no known treatment or vaccine for HFMD, however most children recover from the disease without problems.

• It is unrelated to the foot and mouth disease  (FMD), aka hoof-and-mouth disease that affects livestock

Related Links:

• Toddler virus in China kills three in new outbreak
• China launches nationwide fight against deadly EV71
• Deadly virus infects 1,884, kills 20

China’s Coastal Waters Are Terminally Polluted

China would be lucky to find a single healthy fish swimming in its coastal waters by 2011.

A Shrinking World Series

China’s wetlands, coral reefs and mangroves are rapidly disappearing: expert

According to a Chinese specialist, Luan Weixin, a professor at the Economics and Management College at Dalian Maritime University:

• About 50 percent of inland coastal wetlands in china have disapperaed because of excessive reclamation.

• Some 80 percent of coral reefs and mangrove forests had been destroyed over the past 50 years.

• Worst affected areas include estuaries of the Yangtze, Yellow and Zhujiang rivers, and water bodies near East Liaoning, Bohai and Hangzhou bays.

• A total of 145,000 square kilometers of shallow waters along China’s coast are substandard.

• Some 29,000 square kilometers of seawater is heavily contaminated by chemicals including fertilizers, which contain nitrogen and phosphate.

A child clears water from his boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, in east China’s Anhui province October 14, 2007. Blue-green algae has caused water pollution in Chaohu Lake, China’s fifth largest fresh water lake, where the rare whitebait production is on the decline, Xinhua News Agency reported. REUTERS/Jianan Yu (CHINA). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

“Over the past 20 years or so, China’s marine economy has been developing at a staggeringly rapid pace and marine resources are being widely tapped. As a result, the condition of China’s inshore environment is deteriorating and the ocean ecology has been seriously damaged,” he said. (Source)

A man carrying lotus roots walk through an algae-filled pond in Yingtan, east China’s Jiangxi province, October 12, 2007. China’s pollution woes will form the smoggy backdrop to a key Communist Party gathering in October as leaders, who long treated nature as a foe to conquer, now fear that dirty air and water threaten stability and growth. REUTERS/Stringer (CHINA) CHINA OUT. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Related Links:

• FACTBOX-Cross-border pollution strains ties in Asia
• China using up natural resources fast: report

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Deadly virus infects 1,884, kills 20

EV71 Hits China’s Anhui Province

A highly contagious virus has infected 1,884 people, killed 20 children and is spreading. The virus known as EV71 causes fevers, blisters and rashes on the victims’ hands and feet.

The outbreak of the lethal intestinal virus started in March in Fuyang City in the east China’s Anhui Province, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Experts from places out of Anhui Province examine a sick child in Fuyang City, east China’s Anhui Province, April 29, 2008. The Health Ministry of China sent Fuyang 35 medical experts from Hunan and Hubei provinces in central China to give better treatment to sick children on April 28. An outbreak of lethal intestinal virus Enterovirus 71 has altogether sickened 1,520 children in Fuyang, claiming 20 lives by the morning of April 29. A total of 585 have recovered and 412 are in hospital. Of those, 27 are seriously ill. (Photo and caption: Xinhua). Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

As many as 540 children remain in hospital for further observation. The symptoms in children include fever, mouth ulcers, rashes and blisters hands and feet. Several children with severe pneumonia were admitted to hospitals between March 27-31. Some of the victims were diagnosed with brain, heart and lung damage. All of the victims are reported to be less than six, the majority being under two years old.

At least 27 are said to be in critical condition, according to the provincial health department.