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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.

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