An outbreak of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) surged in Beijing with over 2,600 cases per week was recorded from May 26 to June 22 according to the capital's disease prevention center.

During the four-week period, the number of reported weekly hand-foot-mouth disease cases increased from 2,645 to 3,013 in Beijing according to the Beijing Disease Prevention and Control Center.

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Prevalence of the disease during this four-week period indicates an increase from the former statistics recorded last year

First described in New Zealand in 1957, HFMD is a viral illness that commonly affects infants and children but can also affect adolescents and, occasionally adults which is mostly mild and self-limiting, lasting for 1-2 weeks.

However, HFMD patients in more severe cases exhibit neurological symptoms such as meningitis, encephalitis and polio-like paralysis.

According to a research published earlier this year, the HFMD population at risk was mainly distributed in the urban-rural transition zones which is 'generally consistent with the epidemiological features of Beijing.

Outbreaks of said disease have been a serious public health concern in China since 2007 and were closely monitored by a laboratory and epidemiology surveillance system since the disease has been tagged as a category C notifiable disease by the Ministry of Health based on the Law of Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control.

Earlier in 2008, an outbreak was recorded in Fuyang, Anhui tallying up to 25,000 infections and 42 deaths in a span of 2 months.

Other parts of China, particularly the Guangxi Autonomous Region, were not spared by the epidemic in 2010 reaching to almost 71,000 cases were reported with over 500 fatalities by June.

After 2 years, another epidemic of the HFMD was recorded in China where over 1.5 million people were infected and 431 died of the disease.

On similar accounts, neighboring countries such as Taiwan and Vietnam have also recorded numerous cases of HFMD with 1.5 million and over 50,000 reported cases, respectively.

TagsHFMD, Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease