Young hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) patients play toys at a hospital in Heze City in east China's Shandong Province, on Mar. 28, 2009. Hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD) claimed the lives of five babies in a week in Heze City, local authorities said Saturday. [Xinhua/Fan Changguo]

Hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD) claimed the lives of five babies in a week in Heze City in east China's Shandong Province, local authorities said Saturday.

A baby boy surnamed Liu fell ill Tuesday and died at 07:31 p.m. Thursday at the Central Hospital of Shanxian County. Another baby boy was sick on Monday and died at 10:12 a.m. Friday at the Heze Hospital for Infectious Diseases, the Shandong Provincial Health Department said.

A young hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) patient is treated at a hospital in Heze City in east China's Shandong Province, on Mar. 28, 2009. Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) claimed the lives of five babies in a week in Heze City, local authorities said Saturday. [Xinhua/Fan Changguo]

Three other deaths in Heze included a seven-month-old boy, a 15-month-old boy, and a one-year-old girl between Sunday and Wednesday.

Heze city reported 1,734 HFMD cases between Jan. 1 and midnight Friday, according to the city's health bureau. On Friday alone, 440 cases were reported

The city government has designated the Heze traditional Chinese medicine hospital as the second hospital receiving HFMD patients after the the Heze Hospital for Infectious Diseases

Medical workers take care of a young hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) patient Cao Fanglei in Heze City in east China's Shandong Province, on Mar. 28, 2009. Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) claimed the lives of five babies in a week in Heze City, local authorities said Saturday. [Xinhua/Fan Changguo]

Twenty-five experts from the provincial capital have arrived at the Heze traditional Chinese medicine hospital Saturday to help with the treatment of the disease.

According to the Ministry of Health, HFMD can be caused by a host of intestinal viruses. EV71 was the most common.

HFMD usually starts with a slight fever followed by blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on hands and feet. Those with EV71 often show serious symptoms. HFMD can also lead to meningitis, encephalitis, pulmonary edema and paralysis in some children. There is no vaccine.

(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2009)