A deadly disease that triggers heart failure in children - apparently never seen before - has resurfaced in Malaysia. A team of experts from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now Malaysia trying to help the government learn what causes the disease, which has killed 31 children in just 3 months.
The epidemic has been limited so far to the Sarawak region of northwestern Borneo, an island off the coast of Malaysia's most populous. "We collected a fair bit of data with no clearly providing an answer as to what is happening," the CDC says Larry Anderson. Scientists think there could be a link to an epidemic of hand, foot and mouth (HFM) disease now raging in Malaysia. But HFM, which is caused by Coxsackie A16 and Enterovirus others, is rarely fatal and indeed has not resulted in deaths among children diagnosed with it in 2140 on peninsular Malaysia last month.
Malaysian health officials also suspect Coxsackie B virus that is linked to myocarditis, as a possible cause of heart failure disease. Another possibility is enterovirus 71, a bug that causes heart failure and has been isolated from many of the dead children. The culprit could even be seen pathogenic in people, said Anderson. At this point, he said, "it is detective work." The Department of Health Sarawak is posting updates epidemic on its website.
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