BANGKOK, July 29 — The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) reported that the number of patients infected with hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) have doubled since last year, with 85 per cent of the patients being children under age 5.
Dr Wongwat Liewlak, director of the Communicable Disease Control Division in the BMA Department of Health, said the latest figure of infected patients with the disease in Bangkok, from the beginning of the year until July stands at 4,695; twice that of last year.
No deaths have yet been reported from the disease.
The physician, however, pointed out that the rising figure was not because the disease has become stronger, but because the disease usually spread during the this time of year, where 85 per cent of the people infected were children under the age of 5.
He added that the disease has recently been found to spread in the capital’s Khlong Sam Wa and Phra Khanong districts.
Prevention measures against the spread of the disease remained to the same, he said, adding that strict examinations should be carried out to determine infected children to immediately separate them from their peers to prevent further spreading.
Besides, all schools should take precautions by improving their hygiene within school grounds, particularly shared items and locations, like toys and classrooms, as the disease is normally passed through saliva.
Meanwhile, BMA Health Department director Dr Wantanee Wattana said the number of patients so far found to have contracted the disease was not yet out of control.
She stressed that all schools must carry out strict prevention measures and if more than two classrooms in each class level have students infected with the disease, the schools must consider temporary closure and clearly inform each parent of the situation without withholding information.
