Alert at Thai border for hand, foot and mouth disease

BANGKOK, July 17 (TNA) - Quarantine experts have stepped up their watch along the Thai border from fears of the spread of hand, foot and mouth disease. In Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, body temperature checks were administered on all children crossing over to Thailand from Myanmar’s Tachilek province. Fears of the outbreak have also sparked an exodus of Cambodian parents with young children into Thailand at Soi Dao and Pong Namron districts in Chanthaburi province. As of Tuesday, officials have reported 842 cases of the disease in northern Chiang Rai province so far this year; while in Mahasarakham province, 70 cases have been reported but none of which are fatal. (TNA)