Outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease kills 81 children in Vietnam

"Vietnam's prime minister has put the country on alert as an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease continues to surge, killing 81 children and sickening more than 32,000 people nationwide so far this year, officials said Friday," the Associated Press reports. "It has spread nationwide but is raging hardest in the country's south, where nearly 80 percent of the cases have been reported. About 65 percent of the deaths have occurred in children younger than three," AP writes.

While "the number of patients has decreased compared to a month ago," Graham Harrison, WHO's acting country representative for Vietnam, "urged greater awareness at clinics and hospitals outside cities in detecting and treating new cases" as well as "enhanced hygiene, including frequent hand washing and regularly cleaning floors, tables and counters with disinfectant," AP reports (Mason, 8/19).