The hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) outbreak occurred in the state of Johor, Malaysia in the months 0f October and November 2000 aber the HFMD outbreak started in Singapore in September 2000. The HFMD notification and investigation forms sent to the Epidemiology Unit of the Johor Health Department from district health offices and hospitals during the outbreak were analysed. Patients’ specimens were sent to the Institute for Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur and the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur for viral isolation. A total of 1,122 HFMD cases were notified during the outbreak period with 2 deaths giving 0.2% casefatality rate. From all the cases, 544 (48.5%) patients were admitted to the hospital while the rest were treated as outpatients. Majority (81.7%) of children with HFMD were aged below 5 years old with the commonest age group (46.9%) being between 1 to 2 years old. Sixty-eight patients had positive specimens for viral isolation belonging to enteroviruses namely Enterovirus 71 (43 cases), Coxsackievirus Type A16 (11), Echovirus 7 (3), and Coxsackievirus Type B (2); and non-enteroviruses namely Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1
(5), and Adenovirus (4). Fever and mouth ulcer were the two most common symptoms among HFMD children but vesicles on palms and soles were more common than rashes in children with positive enteroviral isolation.
Study site: University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC)
The impact of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on the physicochemical and functional properties of gum arabic was investigated. Gum arabic samples were exposed to UV irradiation for 30, 60, 90, and 120 min; gum arabic was also treated with formaldehyde for comparison. Molecular weight analysis using gel permeation chromatography indicated that no significant changes occurred on the molecular structure on the samples exposed to UV irradiation. Free amino group analysis indicated that mild UV irradiation (30 min) could induce cross-linking on gum arabic; this result was comparable with that of samples treated with formaldehyde. However, viscosity break down was observed for samples exposed to UV irradiation for longer times (90 and 120 min). All irradiated and formaldehyde-treated samples exhibited better emulsification properties than unirradiated samples. These results indicate that UV-irradiated gum arabic could be a better emulsifier than the native (unmodified) gum arabic and could be exploited commercially.