Beijing Concerned Over `China Virus`

The ‘China virus’ is spreading quickly through the Middle Kingdom. The enterovirus 71, or EV-71, one of the two most common causes of hand-foot-mouth disease, has been reported in Beijing, where the Olympic Games will take place in a few months. The Chinese government is concerned about the rapid spread of the fatal virus to which children younger than 10 are especially vulnerable.

According to China`s state-run media Xinhua News Agency and the China Daily, China’s Health Ministry said the number of infected people had surged to 11,905 as of May 4. The number of people who died from the virus has increased to 26, to include 22 in Anhui Province, three in Guangdong Province, and one in Zhejiang Province. Most of them were infected with EV-71.

In Beijing, the number of infected people increased from 1,010 in April 30 to 1,482 on May 4 as the transmission of EV-71 was first verified. Out of the infected in Beijing, 88.8 percent of 1,316 were aged five or younger.

The number of infected has reached 5,840 in Anhui Province where the virus first appeared. Given 1,314 people have been hospitalized and dozens of them are in serious condition, the death toll is expected to rise further.

The virus first spread across China’s east coast. But, it has now quickly spread across the nation, reaching Shanxi Province and Chongqing in the midwest, and Ningsha and the northwestern Uygur Autonomous Region in Xinjiang Province.

Cases of the infected will peak in June and July since the disease is a summer-borne disease. China is concerned about its effect on the Beijing Olympic Games, which officially begins on August 8, since rapid spread of the disease may discourage foreign tourists with children from visiting the country.

Chinese authorities seem to have made public the outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease quickly and are punishing doctors and hospitals in Anhui Province for failing to effectively deal with the epidemic, so as to assure foreign visitors that this will be a safe Olympics.

The EV-71 virus spreads directly through contact with the infected as well as clothes, towels, and beddings used by the infected. Experts recommend people to wash their hands with soap after returning home from the outdoors and to see a doctor if symptoms appear.

bonhong@donga.com