MALAYSIA - The
country’s Health Ministry announced that the deadly enterovirus 71 (EV-71) that
killed at least 52 children in Cambodia has not entered the country.
Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai
(see insert photo) said that there was one patient related to the virus, but
that person has been placed in quarantine and is under supervision.
“There is no cause for alarm as
the situation is under control and so far, there is no spread of EV-71 in the
country,” he said after closing the Kids Invent! program on Thursday.
EV-71 raised fears across
Southeast Asia this week when it was detected in lab samples taken after 52 of
59 children in Cambodia died suddenly from a mystery illness.
A number of countries in the
region have set up strict health procedures for anyone entering who had been in
Cambodia recently in order to ensure the virus does not spread.
Health experts were initially
uncertain as to what the virus was.
Since then, however, they have
said the disease is in the same family as polio, mainly affects children
younger than five, and spreads easily through sneezing, coughing and contact
with fluid from sores or infected feces.
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