Taipei launches drive against lethal virus

“Hand-washing is the most crucial way to prevent the spread of the viral disease,” said Hau.

The outbreak has sickened a total of 192 young children and infants islandwide so far, including one recently in Taipei City.

“Society, schools, parents and children must make efforts to prevent the enterovirus from spreading,” he added during in a press conference organized at a local elementary school near the landmark 101 Tower.

Showing his determination to bring the epidemic under control, he stressed that a total of 852 elementary schools and nurseries had already been sterilized, before noting that disinfection work would now be carried on a weekly basis.

Hau cited regulations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under the Cabinet-level Department of Health, to explain that any classes found to contain an infected student would be suspended for at least 10 days.

“Through this variety of measures, the city government wants to ensure that no more children will be infected and to ensure that the disease will not spread,” he noted.

The cases are blamed on enterovirus 71, or EV-71, one of the most common causes of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD).

The HFMD is not related to foot-and-mouth disease, which affects farm animals; it can be caused by a number of intestinal viruses, of which EV-71 and Coxsackie A16 are among the most common.

In mild cases, EV-71 causes cold-like symptoms, diarrhea, and sores on the hands, feet and mouth. Severe cases can cause fluid to accumulate in the brain, resulting in polio-like paralysis and death.

There is no treatment for severe EV-71 infections nor does a vaccine exist. Adults with well-developed immune systems can usually fend off the virus, but children are particularly vulnerable to it, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 1998, Taiwan experienced a severe outbreak of EV71, with 405 children infected, 78 of whom died. Another EV71 outbreak in 2005 saw 145 infected, 15 of whom died.

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