KUALA LUMPUR – The hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has recorded an increment of 27 folds to 65,535 cases as of 28 May, compared to only 2,333 cases for the same period in 2021 (during the Covid-19 pandemic).
The Director-General of Health, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that 18,602 cases were reported in epidemiology week (ME) 21/2022, compared to 15,548 cases nationwide on ME 20/2022, an increment of 19.6 percent.
“In 2022, as of 28 May, Selangor contributed the highest number of HFMD cases with 18,525 cases (28.27%), followed by the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur & Putrajaya 8,088 cases (12.34%), Perak 5,810 cases (8.87%), Kelantan 4,905 cases (7.48%), and Sabah 4,077 cases (6.22%).
“59,831 case of HFMD (91%) were reported among children aged 6 years old and below and 4,593 cases (7%) involved children aged between 7 and 12 years old.
“The enterovirus surveillance found three main viruses which caused the spread of HFMD among the community in 2022; the Coxsackie A16 (CA16), Coksackie A6 (CA6) and Enterovirus 71 (EV71),” he said in a statement today.
Rajah 1: Tren kes HFMD mengikut ME dari tahun 2019, 2021 sehingga
ME 21/2022.
He added, as of now, three HFMD cases have been admitted into the intensive care unit (ICU). The first two cases were caused by encephalitis and they were infected by EV71.
Meanwhile, the third case was admitted into the ICU for observation after stomach surgery. However, the patient was transferred to the normal surgery ward on 27 May.
“As of today, 1,505 outbreaks have been reported in Malaysia. Three states recorded the highest number of outbreaks, namely the FT of KL & Putrajaya with 502 outbreaks (33.4%), followed by Selangor 172 (11.4%) and Perak 168 (11.2%).
“Majority of the outbreak location was in nursery, kindergarten and pre-schools with 913 outbreaks (61%) followed by private homes with 526 outbreaks (35%) and childcare centres with 51 outbreaks (3%),” he said.
Rajah 2: Kumulatif kes HFMD tahun 2022 mengikut negeri sehingga 28
Mei 2022
Noor Hisham said, an outbreak is considered when two or more cases with related epidemiology happens during the HFMD incubation period.
As of yesterday, 1,174 nursery / kindergarten / pre-school premises have been shut down. 228 premises voluntarily ceased operation while 946 premises were ordered shut under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.
Meanwhile, 715 premises (61%) have been reopened after inspection by the District Health Office after they found that the disinfection and other preventive measures have been carried out by those premises.
Therefore, the MOH emphasised on the importance of health screening among children at the entrance of nursery / kindergarten / pre-school and childcare centres and education centres to detect children with symptoms of infectious diseases, including HFMD. -MalaysiaGazette
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