Boy, 3, infected with deadly EV71 strain, developed rare complication
By
Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent
Elias Kindergarten, which the stricken boy attended, has been ordered to close for a thorough clean-up. -- STEPHANIE YEOW/THE STRAITS TIMES
A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy died on Wednesday after being diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease, the first fatality here since 2001.
His elder sister has also been infected, but no details are available on her condition.
Elias Kindergarten in Woodlands, where the boy was a pupil, has been told to close for 10 days for a thorough clean-up, and to help stop the disease spreading among children there.
The Health Ministry said yesterday 15 children at the kindergarten have been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). A visit by The Straits Times yesterday evening found the place quiet, with no parents or children to be seen.
The boy who died had fever, ulcers and a rash on Sunday. His family took him to a doctor, who diagnosed HFMD.
On Monday, he started vomiting. By Wednesday, he was so ill that his family had to rush him to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where he was sent straight to the intensive care unit.
He became more alert after some initial treatment, but continued throwing up. He later had seizures, a sign of encephalitis or inflammation of the brain lining - a rare but severe complication associated with HFMD.
Dr Chong Chia Yin, a senior consultant in infectious diseases at KKH, said the boy could not be resuscitated despite their best efforts.
'Encephalitis patients can go downhill rapidly,' she said.
It happened to many of the seven children who died of HFMD in the 2000-2001 outbreak, the last time anyone here died here from the disease.
Like most of them, this boy was also infected with EV71, the deadliest of about 70 HFMD strains. The strain is responsible for almost a third of the more than 17,000 infections that hit children who develop this normally mild childhood disease.
The outbreak this year has raised some concerns because, compared with the same period last year, there has been a 40 per cent jump in the number of children coming down with HFMD.
As a precaution, the Health Ministry has ordered child-care centres and kindergartens to close when there is a large active cluster, or in this case, a death from the disease.
However, the outbreak seems to be tailing off. Last week, only 392 children caught the bug - down from a high of more than 200 cases a day in April.
The number of infections caused by EV71 also appears to have fallen off.
There were two other severe cases this year.
There is currently still one child warded in KKH for HFMD.
