KRASNOYARSK, June 5 (RIA Novosti) - A total of 32 kindergarten children have been hospitalized with a virus in Russia's Republic of Khakassia, in south Siberia, where two children died earlier this week.
The girl and a boy, both from the Yolochka kindergarten, died on Tuesday. Laboratory tests revealed that the girl died of meningitis, while the boy was killed by the fatal Enterovirus 71, blamed for the death of some 40 children in China.
Health officials said that five of the children aged between two and six had been diagnosed with enterovirus 71, a major causative agent for hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). But they said the others are believed to be suffering from acute intestinal and respiratory infections and a cold.
Though the death rate from the enterovirus itself is quite low, it can cause a number of severe complications depending on the age of the patient, such as polio and meningitis.
