Health Ministry allays concerns over HFMD in Thailand

BANGKOK, July 19 (TNA) - The Ministry of Public Health has insisted that the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Thailand has not reached a serious degree, but public health officials nationwide have been ordered to take precautions. According to Thai Permanent Secretary for Public Health Paijit Warachit, the HFMD detected in Thailand has not been of any deadly strain although there have been over 18,000 HFMD patients in several provinces over the past six months, most or 72-per cent of them are children aged under three years old but no one has died from the disease. Dr. Paijit told journalists Tuesday that he has ordered public health officials and hospitals' staffs nationwide to do their best to control the disease and to treat patients in line with official standards, advising staffs of schools and nurseries to also supervise their children closely to regularly clean their places, toys, utilities and to wash their hands with soap and water after touching objects and going to toilets. Meanwhile, Deputy Public Health Minister Dr. Surawit Khonsomboon also confirmed that the hand, food and mouth viral strain reported in Thailand has not spread or has been as severe as the one outbreaking in neighboring Cambodia, noting that on July 9, five children were found with the HFMD at Ban Tai nursery in Muang district of Thailand's western Kanchanaburi province, prompting local authorities to have closed the nursery for an official investigation. The deputy public health minister said that his ministry has ordered public health chiefs in all provinces, especially in border provinces, to watch out for signs of the HFMD and to take swift actions to prevent and control the disease. (TNA)