Apart from sending an investigative team to Singapore, the Federal and State Health authorities would have to take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of HFM disease epidemic that caused four deaths in Malaysia in October last year.

Sending circulars to all districts hospitals, health centres and child care
centres to warn them to be vigilant may be helpful. On the other hand, we face several problems including the mutation of viruses such as those responsible for HFM disease and the movement of people between Malaysia and Singapore. It is not just the children, adults can also carry the virus.

Diseases due to Coxsackie and Echo viruses are common. Normally, they do not result in deaths. However, viruses mutate, changing their character in some ways and rending patients more susceptible. People get used to certain viruses. Once there is a new strain, the body cannot defend itself against the new virus effectively.

As we are waiting for the findings on the dead boy, all virus centres such as the Malaysian Medical Research Institute and Microbiology Department of University of Malaya should be monitoring and coordinating with various centres on the appearance of new strains of viruses such as the mutants of Coxsackie and Echo viruses. If we have a Centre for Disease Control of our own, it will be easier to do this type of monitoring and coordinating.

In this world without borders, people travel from country to country.
Infectious diseases spread faster.