An investigation into a disturbing outbreak among young children in Cambodia is gaining traction. Doctors have identified a potential cause: a mystery virus associated with hand, foot and mouth disease. (The illness is not foot-and-mouth disease, which affects only animals.) Most of the Cambodian cases involved children younger than three-years-old, whose symptoms led to rapid shutdown and sometimes neurological symptoms. Dr Beat Richner, head of Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital, said: "These children show encephalitis - infection of the brain. And then, the last four hours of their life, or six hours, they developed the destruction of the lungs." He warned it was important not to create a global panic over the outbreak.
The World Health Organization said there have been 59 cases of hospitalized young children since April. Fifty-two of the children died. http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/index.html (WHO Global Alert and Response website)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303567704577518312828428088.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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