Description of the situation
19 June 1997
Disease Outbreak Reported
The WHO Collaborating Centre at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur reported on 12 June that 13 virus strains had been isolated from 15 cases, 8 of which were fatal. Six of the 13 isolates were from CSF, three from serum samples and four from rectal and/or throat swabs. Preliminary results on nine of the isolates sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA and to the Department of Microbiology, Queen Mary Hospital, University of Hong Kong confirmed that two were positive for enterovirus by RT-PCR, of which one was an isolate from serum of a fatal case. Further identification results will be available soon. The WHO Collaborating Centre in Kuala Lumpur is working closely with the Institute for Medical Research and the University of Malaysia Sarawak in a joint effort to identify the causative virus of this outbreak.
Up to 17 June 1997 the outbreak had caused 26 fatal cases.