SINGAPORE, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The incidence of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in Singapore remained high in the last three months, with the recent month-long school holiday failing to break the chain of infection, local media reported on Friday.
This is largely because the epidemic seems to be hitting children aged two to four in childcare centers, which had stayed open during the June school break, local newspaper The Straits Times reported.
More than 13,100 people have come down with the illness in the first half of the year, a jump of about 36 percent. In the last five years, the number of cases for the period hovered around 9, 649.
In two of the last three weeks, the number of cases diagnosed per week shot past 679, the epidemic level. The 721 cases reported last week was more than double the usual number for this time of the year.
HFMD usually infects children and infants. Symptoms include fever, ulcers in the throat and rashes on the hands and feet. HFMD is spread from person to person by direct contact through the nasal discharge, saliva, faces and fluid from the rash of an infected person.
