HFMD case surge expected due to Hari Raya, says Health DG

PETALING JAYA: There have been 15,548 hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases recorded nationwide during the 20th epidemiological week (ME) ending Saturday (May 21), says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

The Health director-general said the latest figure was a staggering increase of 106.6% from the previous week's 7,526 cases.

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"The increase of cases was expected due to the mobility of Malaysians during the Hari Raya celebrations," he said on Tuesday (May 24).

Selangor recorded the highest number of cases with 13,640, followed by Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya with 6,206 cases combined, Dr Noor Hisham added.

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This brings the cumulative total of HFMD cases this year to 47,209.

He added 43,736 cases or 93% of the total cases were children aged six and below, while 2,765 (6%) cases were children between seven and 12 years old and the remaining 708 cases (1%) were over 12 years old.

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"Based on the type of virus (enterovirus) surveillance in Malaysia, the three major viruses that cause the spread of HFMD in the community this year, were Coxsackie A16 (CA16), Coksackie A6 (CA6) and Enterovirus 71 (EV71).

"To date, there were two EV71-positive HFMD cases admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to encephalitis. Both cases were children under six years old," Dr Noor Hisham said.

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He added that the majority of the outbreak took place in nurseries, kindergartens and preschools with 711 outbreaks, followed by private homes (407) and child care centres (42).