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11-Jul-12, 6:25 AM | Philippine News Agency

InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday reminded the public, especially mothers and caregivers, on proper hygiene after changing babies' diapers to avoid the spread of EV-71 virus or enterovirus 71, which has killed tens of babies in Cambodia.

Dr. Eric Tayag, DOH assistant secretary and spokesman, said that caregivers who change diapers (pertaining to children's feces) and do not properly wash their hands after could spread the EV-71 virus to children.

"Proper disposal of baby diapers or human waste, strict personal hygiene, and regular hand-washing prevent viral spread. The virus is known to be excreted in the feces since it is found in the human intestine," Tayag said.

Other precautions

Tayag urged parents and day-care personnel to clean and disinfect toys and teaching tools that are easily shared with other children. This can prevent EV-71 infections as there are no known effective drugs or vaccines.

According to Tayag, the DOH and the World Health Organization have clarified that the Cambodian EV-71 infection was of the encephalitis type and not HFMD (hand, foot and mouth disease).

Affected Cambodian children generally had fever followed by rapid respiratory deterioration and impaired conciousness. Death occurred 24 hours from hospital confinement, DOH and WHO said.

Tayag explained that EV-71 causes different diseases of varying intensity. These include the often mild hand, foot and mouth disease, acute respiratory disease, acute flaccid paralysis (polio-like) and the deadly brainstem encephalistis. HFMD is characterized as self-limiting illness and accompanied by skin lesions or rashes.

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DOH reminds moms on proper hygiene vs baby killer disease

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer

Health Secretary Enrique Ona

It turns out that the Philippines is not exactly new to the milder forms of the virus that has killed many children in Cambodia.

The Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday said enterovirus 71 (EV-71) infections have been occurring in the country, though reported only intermittently, but the deadlier kind is still very rare.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona and the World Health Organization also clarified in a joint statement Tuesday that the Cambodian EV-71 was of the encephalitis type and not hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD), a self-limiting illness, as health experts earlier announced.

Ona explained that the virus, excreted in human feces, causes different diseases of varying intensity, which includes the usually mild HFMD, acute respiratory disease, acute flaccid paralysis and the deadly brainstem encephalitis. It is the latter that caused the death of more than 50 children in Cambodia.

The Cambodian victims experienced fever followed by rapid respiratory deterioration and impaired consciousness. Death occurred 24 hours after hospital confinement, said Ona.

To ensure that the Philippines remains free of the deadly strain of the EV-71, Ona has directed all hospitals and health providers to report to the DOH individual cases, or even outbreaks, of all EV-71 infections.

Mandatory notification will improve monitoring of EV-71 infections and ensure that necessary measures are in place to guarantee that the Philippines is free from the highly fatal, severe form of EV-71 infections, stated Ona.

The health department has advised the public, especially those with infants, to properly dispose of baby diapers or human waste, to observe strict personal hygiene and observe regular hand-washing to prevent the spread of the virus.

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Cambodia Killer: Mystery disease nothing new in PH

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -

Ten years ago, on July 19, 2002, it was a day of discovery for people of Baton Rouge. It was the day that a DNA match linked Derrick Todd Lee to numerous murders in the Baton Rouge area, which put a name to the serial killer that was on the loose.

Diane Alexander woke up on Tuesday morning July 9, 2002, not knowing that within a few hours she would be close to death. She was headed for a fight with one of the most brutal and savage killers South Louisiana had seen in sometime. Diane wouldn't have to go far to find that fight, it would show up at her front door.

Derrick Todd Lee attacked Diane Alexander in her Breaux Bridge home after pushing his way in. Lee beat her repeatedly and tried to rape. Alexander's son showed up and interrupted Lee.

Alexander was able to give police a description, 10 years ago, but no one recognized it as Lee. The same afternoon, the Louisiana State Police crime lab had made a big discovery. Scientist looking to link recent murder cases discovered the same DNA pattern had been left at two different crime scenes.

One DNA sample was collected at a murder scene on Stanford Avenue, the other was from a murder scene on Sharlo Avenue, both matched an unknown killer.

Late on that July afternoon police would announce that the same unknown killer had murdered and raped Gina Wilson Green and Murray Pace.

"It appears that we have a single killer," Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade said at the time "We want to caution everybody."

Those words on that July 9th day changed everything and put people on edge.

Although no one had a name to go with, the serial killer's DNA was enough to compare to future crime scenes and would eventually be tied to Derrick Lee a year later in May.

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10 years ago DNA linked Derrick Todd Lee to serial killings

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) A deadly form of a common childhood illness has been linked to the mysterious child deaths in Cambodia that sparked alarm after a cause could not immediately be determined, health officials said Monday.

Lab tests have confirmed that a virulent strain of hand, foot and mouth disease known as EV-71 is to blame for some of the 59 cases reviewed since April, including 52 deaths, according to a joint statement from the World Health Organization and Cambodian Health Ministry. The numbers were lowered from the initial report of 62 cases.

EV-71 is a virus that can result in paralysis, brain swelling and death. Most of the Cambodian cases involved children younger than 3 who experienced fever, respiratory problems that led to rapid shutdown and sometimes neurological symptoms.

Epidemiologists are still trying to piece together information about the cases by interviewing parents because some details may have been omitted or missing from medical charts and specimens were not taken from most children before they died, said Dr. Nima Asgari, who is leading the WHO investigation. Of 24 samples tested, 15 came back positive for EV-71.

"As far as I'm aware, EV-71 was not identified as a virus in Cambodia before," Asgari said, adding that based on the information now available it's likely that the majority of untested patients were infected with it.

"We are a bit more confident. We are hoping that we can come up with something a bit more conclusive in the next day or so," he said.

Hand, foot and mouth disease has been raging across Asia and usually causes a telltale rash. Blistering was only reported in some of the Cambodian cases, and it's possible that steroids administered by doctors could have masked the symptom or it may not have been recorded, he said.

The lab results also identified other diseases in some cases, including mosquito-borne dengue fever and Streptococcus suis, a germ commonly seen in pigs that sometimes infects people, often causing meningitis and hearing loss.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is spread by sneezing, coughing and contact with fluid from blisters or infected feces. It is caused by enteroviruses in the same family as polio. No vaccine or specific treatment exists, but illness is typically mild and most children recover quickly without problems.

The virus gets its name from the symptoms it causes, including rash, mouth sores and blisters covering the hands and feet. Many infected children don't get sick but can spread it to others.

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Common child illness linked to Cambodia killer

09-Jul-12, 1:59 PM | Cher Jimenez, InterAksyon.com | Philippine News Agency | Xinhua

A doctor examines a child at the Kantha Bopha children's hospital, which first alerted the World Health Organization to the mystery killer disease that has felled dozens of children, mostly between the ages of 2 and 3. AFP PHOTO

InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

PHNOM PENH - Health professionals from Cambodia and the World Health Organization are closer to identifying the mysterious disease that has killed at least 52 children, but the Philippines is not letting its guard down as it ordered the screening of all inbound travelers.

The latest laboratory results showed that Enterovirus Type 71 (EV-71) was found among children who had died from undiagnosed syndrome since April, according to a joint statement of Cambodia's Health Ministry and the WHO released Sunday midnight.

"Based on the latest laboratory results, a significant proportion of the patients' samples tested positive for Enterovirus 71," said the statement.

According to the joint statement, a final review of all tested hospitalized cases is being done to detect the undiagnosed syndrome.

Of the 59 children affected by the syndrome 52 have died, it said.

Sixty-four young children out of 66 admitted to the largest children's hospitals in Cambodia since the end of April were killed by encephalitis.

Philippe Buchy, head of Virology Unit at the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, wrote in an email on Sunday that 15 out of 24 patients with the encephalitis/pulmonary disease were tested positive for EV-71.

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Cambodia, WHO closer to identifying killer disease as Philippines screens travelers