By Amresh Gunasingham
HAND, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has continued spreading
across the island, taking the number of cases past the 1,000 mark
last week for the first time this year.
Last week, 1,261 children were diagnosed with it, up from 982
from the week before; the number of cases has been at or above the
epidemic threshold of 679 cases a week for the last eight
weeks.
Cumulatively this year, 20,249 children have come down with this
usually mild childhood infection, almost twice the norm seen in the
last five years.
Of the number, 259 or 1.3 per cent have needed
hospitalisation.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the majority of cases have
been mild; children who caught the infection were mostly those with
poor nutritional habits, which lowered their resistance.
Earlier this week, the MOH put another childcare centre, My
First Skool in Toa Payoh, on its online 'watch list'.