HCMC hospitals overrun with hand, foot and mouth disease

Hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City are now overrun with children infected with the hand, foot and mouth disease, as was reported on July 25.

The Pediatrics Hospital No.1 is treating 30 children, including one with mental complications. Daily admission numbers have recently run into the tens for infant patients suffering from the disease, up from 3-4 cases a day.

The number of patients with infectious diseases caused by Coxsackie and Enterro 71 virus is also mounting at Pediatrics Hospital No.2, according to Dr. Vu Quang VInh, deputy chief of the Planning Department of the hospital.

More worrisome, the disease is spreading among students in schools. Dr. Nguyen Dac Tho of the city Preventive Health Center said 15 of 24 districts have reported fresh cases of hand, foot and mouth disease.