Almost a dozen districts have reported outbreaks of the hand, foot and mouth disease. More than 230 cases have been detected across the country but health officials say there could be many more that have gone unreported. The disease is a mild, contagious viral infection affecting mostly young children.
According to health officials, the first cases were detected from Wangdue Phodrang. Today, the infectious disease has spread to eleven districts. Sarpang has reported the highest with over 100 cases, followed by Dagana with 60.
Last week, there were less than 50 such cases detected from Wangdue Phodrang, Punakha, and Zhemgang.
Health officials say the infection, although very contagious, is not serious.
“This infection is self-limiting. It gets resolved by 7 to 10 days of your infection,” said Binay Thapa, the Medical Microbiologist at the Royal Center for Disease Control. “It is not much of a concern but in some cases, some complications might happen in people with underlying medical conditions. Other than this it is not that severe kind of infection.”
About 80 per cent of the reported cases are among children below the age of 10 years. However, none of the cases has had complications.
Binay added that parents should ensure that children “wash their hands especially after using the toilet. Parents should also ensure the personal hygiene of children especially when it comes to sharing their personal belongings because they have the tendency to play together.”
The symptoms of the disease include sores in the mouth and rashes on the hands and feet with mild fever and runny nose.
A similar outbreak was reported in 2016 affecting about 10 districts, but the number of cases was not as high as this time.
Kinley Dem
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
