BANGKOK, 22 July 2012 – The Public Health Ministry has launched a new hotline service to rein in the outbreak of the hand, foot and mouth disease across Thailand.
Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri said the Ministry has reserved parts of its 1422 hotline number to answer around-the-clock public queries on the hand, foot and mouth disease.
Mr. Wittaya stated that any school, which has suspected the viral outbreak, is also urged to contact the Ministry through its hotline number as soon as possible.
In any case, he has called on the public to maintain regular hygiene practices even when there is not any case of a disease outbreak.
According to the Public Health Minister, the increase in the number of the hand-foot-and-mouth-disease patients has been going up but the strain of virus found in the country is not a strong one and the patients’ number is relatively small, when compared with other nearby countries.
He said that more than 13,000 hand-foot-mouth patients have been reported across the country, while no death was reported.
In Vietnam, victims of the disease went up to more than 63,000, with 34 deaths, while over 1.2 million Chinese nationals have been suffering the illness and more than 100 have lost their lives.
The Minister went on to say that anybody who has suffered high fever for more than 2 days, should not take medication by themselves but seek medical attention from doctors immediately.
