Deadly virus keeps on spreading

This other plague from Egypt hurting China, the foot and mouth disease, has started to cause panic as more than 3,000 people fell sick and a 21th child died, writes the International Herald Tribune, quoting state-media in China.

On Thursday the World Health Organization warned that the disease, which thrives in warm weather, could spread in the coming months. It advised child-care centers and schools to stay closed until the spread of new infections was curtailed.

The virus, which has no relation to the foot-and-mouth disease that infects livestock, is easily passed between children. The illness begins with a fever and often leads to mouth ulcers and blisters on the hands, feet and buttocks. There is no vaccine or cure, but most patients recover in a week without treatment. In severe cases, however, brain swelling can lead to paralysis or death. Rigorous hygiene dramatically reduces the spread of the pathogen, which is an enterovirus known as EV71.