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Researchers call for greater focus on surveillance and genomics. China has seen several outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth virus in recent years.AP PHOTO An outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in China, which since January has killed 19 children and made nearly 42,000 ill, has researchers calling for a better surveillance system to detect the disease and for action to speed up vaccine development."The situation of preventing and containing hand, foot and mouth disease is very serious at the moment," Deng Haihua, spokesman for China's health ministry, said last week. More cases are expected, as the disease normally...

BEIJING - A DEADLY strain of hand, foot and mouth disease has killed two more children in China, bringing the death toll in recent weeks to 32, state media said, as it praised a doctor who alerted authorities to the epidemic. An eight-month-old girl and a boy aged one and a half, who both died in southern China, were the latest victims of an outbreak international experts have warned has yet to peak. Hand, foot and mouth is a common childhood illness, but in the current outbreak, has been linked with enterovirus 71 (EV71) which can cause a severe form...