Total number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease have gone up drastically and now more than 15 thousand  childrens are suffering. according to China's official Xinhua news agency

China should expect more cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, but there is no sign it is facing a new or more virulent strain despite an unusually high number of child deaths, officials said on Wednesday.

Hand, foot and mouth is a common childhood illness, but the current outbreak has led to 28 fatalities in China, mostly when linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71), which can cause a severe form of the disease characterised by high fever, paralysis and meningitis.

"There is no indication of a change or a more virulent virus," World Health Organisation China representative Hans Troedsson told a news conference.

But he said there were still questions about why there were so many cases in Fuyang, in the eastern province of Anhui, and why they presented unusual symptoms that made it difficult to identify the virus -- a delay that may have cost lives.

Source: uk.news.yahoo.com