Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) has killed two babies and hospitalized another four in Heze City of east China's Shandong Province in March, local authorities said Wednesday.

A seven-month-old infant died at 8:23 p.m. Sunday 10 hours after he was rushed to the Heze Infectious Disease Hospital (HIDH). A 15-month-old boy died at noon Monday in the People's Hospital of Juancheng County, Shandong Provincial Health Department reported.

Four children being treated in HIDH were in critical condition, said Li Shixin, an official of Heze City Health Bureau.

The disease was found in all the nine counties and districts in the city, he said.

Besides the HFMD cases, another four babies died of cephalitis or suspected HFMD from March 8 to March 23, Li said.

The Health Department has dispatched expert teams to Heze to instruct emergency treatment as well as disease control and prevention. Medical equipments were also sent to Heze to assist the fight against the disease.

According to the Ministry of Health, HFMD can be caused by a host of intestinal viruses, but EV71 and the Coxsackievirus (Cox A16) were the most common.

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

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2009)