EV71 case 'no cause for panic'

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Department of Disease Control chief Dr Pornthep Siriwanarangsan yesterday advised the public not to panic over the discovery that a toddler had died at a Bangkok hospital from an Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection.

Pornthep said the Nopparat Hospital had sent the virus found in the 2-year-old for analysis at the Department of Medical Sciences.

Pornthep advised parents to take early hospital treatment if they suspected their child was infected, otherwise it could be too late to fight it.

Department spokesman, Dr Wattana Uwanit, said officials are testing if the virus found in the body of the toddler had undergone a significant mutation that might cause it to become more viral.

He said EV 71 had first been detected long ago. Some people, particularly adults, might be immune to it.

Tak provincial governor Suriya Prasartbanthit said the province has ordered every school to take extra precautions and be vigilant after two students in the province were found to have contracted hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD).

The toddler who died at Nopparat had no symptoms of HFMD.

Supanant Kongchanhiran, a first grader and her brother Jirapat Kongchanhiran are being treated in hospital for the disease. Sunet Rakkaew, director of Ban Pakamai has advised parents not to bring their children to school if they have high fever and take them to hospital immediately.

-- The Nation 2012-07-23

From what I just read from this article, everything seems to say "PANIC LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW" rather than "Oh... It's OK. Don't Panic... just be vigilant because ___________________ ".

Thais have the s**ttiest way of reassuring people...

BMA set HFMD control center to prevent further spread among kids

BANGKOK, 23 July 2012 (NNT)-The Office of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has been keeping surveillance on the outbreak of hand-foot and mouth disease (HFMD) given there are now nearly 3,000 cases in Bangkok.

According to BMA Spokesperson Wasan Meewogn, who said after an executive meeting regarding the HFMD outbreak, that it has been discovered that one person out of every 100,000 people in Bangkok there has contacted the disease.

The ratio is based on the total number of almost 3000 infected individuals in the capital. However, no death has been reported so far. Mr. Wasan said later that the largest numbers of cases have been found in Laksi and Thawiwattana districts respectively.

Most of the patients are younger than 4 years old. The committee, chaired by Dr. Malinee Sukhavejjaworakit, and a center for HFMD watch have been set up specifically to tackle this problem.

According to Mr. Wasan, the BMA has advised people to isolate children affected by the HFMD to prevent the disease from spreading further and to keep their houses clean. He added that the spreading will subside after next month.

-- NNT 2012-07-23

This announcement most certainly means that it's time to panic. When a Thai person says there is nothing to worry about, you can be da_n-well certain that is something very, very serious to worry about.

Not exactly true. But when the government says 'don't panic', then I panic. That's not just specific to the Thai government either.

I hope they can contain the spread of this virus.

Wow it has finally become clear to the Nation that EV71 is not foot and mouthy disease. So sad that it is a reason though to panic, given the fact that most doctors will not be able to diagnose these cases and will eventually prescribe the wrong medicines which kill the very young patients almost instantly. 99% of the cases will go unreported, especially upcountry.

A good information document including the technnology that can be used to combat/contain the disease here