(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-07 12:48

BEIJING -- Contagious hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) had led to 28 deaths in China as of Wednesday morning, according to Xinhua's tally based on confirmed death reports from provincial-level health bureaus.

Two new child deaths were reported by health bureaus in the central province of Hunan and in the southwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, respectively, on Wednesday, after health minister Chen Zhu announced the death toll of 26 on Tuesday. The Hunan and Guangxi child deaths were the first for both jurisdictions.

In Hunan, a 2-year-old girl in Shahe Village, Changde City died at 5:20 a.m. on Tuesday, despite medical treatment. She had tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), the most deadly strain of the virus family that has been linked to fatal HFMD cases in China.

A 3-year-old boy in Yulin City, Guangxi died on May 3 (last Saturday) after having exhibited HFMD symptoms. Sample tests proving him EV71 positive were returned on Tuesday.

The outbreak of HFMD has led to fatalities mostly in the eastern province of Anhui, where 22 children died after having been infected with EV71. Three deaths were in the southern province of Guangdong, and one in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Tianjin reported 134 HFMD cases for the first time this year, vice director Zhang Guixiang of the municipal health bureau told a press conference on Wednesday morning.

"The patients were from 15 of the 18 districts and counties but no fatal or critical cases have been reported so far," Zhang said.

Among the patients, ranging in age from two months to 30 years, 113 were children below five years, or 84.3 percent of the total, Zhang said.

According to test results involving the latest 15 HFMD cases in Tianjin, five were EV71 positive and another five were Coxsackievirus (Cox A 16) positive.

Zhang said that HFMD occurred annually in the city, usually increasing starting in April and peaking in the summer.