ALOR STAR: Cases of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) are expected to decline in the next two to three weeks, says Khairy Jamaluddin.
The Health Minister said the spread of the disease was usually seasonal and as the level of children’s immunity increases, the number of cases would go down.
“HFMD is usually seasonal, it will start and become a wave and in less than a month, it will go down significantly on its own.
“When many children are exposed to this virus, their immunity level will increase and the number of cases will then decrease.
“Intervention in terms of personal hygiene, disinfection of nurseries, childcare centres, and so on also helps,” he said yesterday.
Earlier, Khairy attended the presentation of medical equipment donated by the Japanese government through the Japanese Grant Aid to the ministry.
Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Takahashi Katsuhiko was also present.
Khairy said the number of HFMD cases could have risen significantly this year due to children having spent less time outdoors during the pandemic, thus, resulting in lower immunity to the HFMD virus.
“Due to the lack of exposure to this virus, immunity levels go down. The child has never encountered this virus.
“This is the classical theory of natural immunity. When not exposed to this virus, immunity will be low.
“That’s probably why the number of cases is quite high now because the Coxsackie HFMD virus is invading our children who only have naive virus (with no previous encounter to build immunity). So that’s why there will be a lot of cases at this point,” he said.
He explained that most cases of HFMD in the country were not serious, but parents were advised to bring their children for treatment if they showed symptoms.
In Ipoh, more than 8,000 HFMD cases were reported in the state, said health committee chairman Mohd Akmal Kamaruddin.
“A total of 787 cases recorded involved children aged between seven and 12, and 144 cases were those aged above 12. Most of the cases were reported in Kinta district,” he told reporters at the Kinta Riverfront Hotel yesterday.
“The cases among school pupils and students are still low, which is between 1% to 2% from the total number of cases.”
Mohd Akmal said the state Health Department had checked more than 6,000 premises in the state.
At least 188 kindergarten and pre-schools in Perak have been closed due to HFMD cases.
“Some kindergartens closed voluntarily to minimise its infection while some were ordered to do so by the Health Department,” he added.
Mohd Akmal said many of the premises have done their part and he hoped parents, too, would also be mindful not to send their children who are infected with HFMD to kindergartens.
