By Xinhua,
Beijing : As many as 20 children have been killed due to a severe strain of intestinal infection and some 1,884 of their peers were affected following the outbreak of the disease last month in east China, a health department official said Wednesday.
However, there was no new report of death from the infection for the past five days, Yang Weizhong, deputy chief of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said.
The outbreak caused by a highly dangerous strain of Enterovirus 71 (EV 71) was detected in the Fuyang city in the eastern province of Anhui, he said.
By Tuesday noon, 540 children remained in hospital for further medical observation, the provincial health office said and added that 27 were in critical condition.
The children with the infection – most of them under two years of age – running high temperature were admitted to hospital, with blisters, ulcers in the mouth or rashes on head and feet.
Some were diagnosed with brain, heart or lung damage.