KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: With immediate effect, all visitors arriving from the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui and Guangdong in China will be monitored for Enterovirus 71 or EV71.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said those who showed symptoms of the disease, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease, would be referred to the nearest hospital for a medical examination.
"Passengers can also inform crew members on board the aircraft if they are feeling unwell or alert officials at the point of entry so that they can be referred to a government hospital," he told the New Straits Times.
He said the ministry was taking the extra precaution to avert an outbreak in the country in view of a national alert in China where the disease had claimed 26 lives and infected more than 5,000 people, mainly children.
A high-level task force headed by China's Health Minister, Chen Zhu, had been set up to tackle the spread of the contagious EV71.
The EV71 was first isolated in 1969. Since then, it has been associated with sporadic cases of outbreaks in various parts of the world, including the US, Brazil, Europe, Australia, Malaysia and Taiwan.
An EV 71 infection may present itself much like other enterovirus infections, with symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to the presentation of rashes, diarrhoea, colds, meningitis, encephalitis, hand, foot and mouth disease, myocarditis, or a combination of these.
EV71 may also cause many unusual syndromes such as acute flaccid paralysis (similar to paralytic poliomyelitis), bulbar and brain encephalitis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and rapidly fatal pulmonary edema and haemorrhage.
Liow said Malaysians and foreigners, especially children, who had visited affected areas in China and showed symptoms such as fever, sores in the mouth and rashes with blisters should alert the authorities.
"If they develop symptoms, they must go to the nearest hospital," he stressed.
Liow said health screening at entry points would only be carried out if there was a health alert issued by the World Health Organisation just like in the case of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Liow advised Malaysians visiting China to avoid going to affected areas such as eastern China's Zhejiang province, Anhui province and southern Guangdong province.
Dozens of other EV71 cases have been confirmed in at least four other Chinese provinces.
EV71 is highly contagious and spreads through direct contact with the mucus, saliva or faeces of an infected person. Young children are most susceptible because of a lower immune system.
There is no vaccine or antiviral agent available to treat or prevent EV71. Enteroviruses can cause high fever, paralysis and swelling of the brain.
