HFMD cases up 27-fold, only three ICU cases so far

KUALA LUMPUR: Out of 65,535 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) reported so far, only three were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), says Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic).

The Health director-general said the first and second cases were admitted to the ICU due to encephalitis complications and were confirmed to be infected with EV71 while the third case was warded for monitoring after abdominal surgery.

“The third case has been transferred to the regular ward on May 27 for further monitoring, while the first and second cases are still under close monitoring in the ICU,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said as of May 28, a total of 65,535 cases of HFMD were reported, which was a 27-fold increase from only 2,333 cases in the same period last year.

Selangor has the highest number of cases at 18,525 (28.27%), followed by Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya with 8,088 (12.34%), Perak 5,810 (8.87%), Kelantan 4,905 (7.48%), and Sabah 4,077 (6.22%).

Dr Noor Hisham said 1,505 outbreaks were reported in Malaysia so far with three states recording the highest number, namely Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (502 outbreaks or 33.4%), followed by Selangor (172 outbreaks or 11.4%) and Perak (168 outbreaks or 11.2%).

“The majority of the outbreaks occurred in nurseries, kindergartens and pre-schools (913 outbreaks or 61%) followed by private homes (526 outbreaks or 35%) and childcare centres (51 outbreaks or 3%),” he said.

He stressed the importance of gatekeeping screenings on children at nurseries, kindergartens and pre-schools, as well as other early childhood education centres to detect symptoms of infectious diseases, including HFMD.

He added that as of May 29, a total of 1,174 nurseries, kindergartens and preschools were closed, 228 of which did so voluntarily while 946 premises were closed under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act.

Of the total, 715 premises or 61% have been reopened after inspections by the district Health Office found that disinfection measures and other preventive controls have been implemented. – Bernama