He was later diagnosed with Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) but she never thought that he would die as she had seen the children of friends and relatives recover from the disease over the past two years.

But 12-year-old Muhammad Shahril Izhar Kamarudin died in hospital on Sunday, a week after he was diagnosed with the disease.

While it is not clear if the disease caused the boy's death, it will take several months for an autopsy to determine if he is the second person to die of the disease since 2001.

Singapore registered its first death from HFMD in August, since a severe outbreak from 2000 to 2001 which killed seven children. Most of the victims who died suffered from a severe form of HFMD caused by a virus called EV71.

The total number of HFMD cases is about 17,400 for the first 31 weeks of this year. Two preschools and four childcare centres were temporarily shut by the Health Ministry in April following outbreaks of HFMD.

Shahril first developed fever and red spots on his cheeks in the first week of November.

'I thought he might be having a fever because he was worried about getting back his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results,' said Madam Roslinda.

The former student of Jurong West Primary School appeared to recover after two visits to different general practitioners and he asked to be allowed to join his classmates on a two-day school trip to Malacca.

'His fever had subsided, so we relented and let him go on the trip,' recalled Madam Roslinda.

But after he got back, his fever returned and he developed rashes on his palms.

After he collected his PSLE results his condition worsened.

'His fever went as high as 40 degrees celsius. He had ulcers in his mouth and on his lips,' said the boy's stepfather Mohamed Afandi Ahwan, 38.

The boy also complained of difficulty in swallowing food, he added.

He was diagnosed as having HFMD and given paracetamol after a seeing a doctor at Jurong Polyclinic on Nov 23.

On Sunday morning, he fainted after being helped to the toilet by his mother.

Although he later regained consciousness and was no longer having a fever, his breathing became heavy.

While on the way to the hospital, he passed out in Mr Afandi's car and was revived by staff at the hospital.

Mr Afandi said they were told by doctors that Shahril was breathing but not on his own and his heartbeat was weak.

'That was when we realised the situation was very serious,' he said.

The boy died at 1.30pm on Sunday - which was also his birthday.