Hand-foot-and-mouth disease cases rise to over 6,000 this year
The number of hand-foot-and-mouth diseases in Bangkok has risen to over 6,000 from January to July, a senior Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said Monday.
Duangporn Pinjisekhikul, the director of the Health Department’s Communicable Disease Control Division, said the number of the cases this year doubled from that of the same period last year.
She said the cases increased apparently because of frequent rainings recently, prompting the virus that caused the disease to stay longer in the environment.
So far, over 110 schools in Bangkok had been closed partially or entirely for several days after the virus spread there.
Duangporn added that 85 per cent of the cases are 4-year-old children and younger.
