(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-05-13 00:13

ULAN BATOR  -- Some 294 suspected hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) cases had been detected in Mongolia by Monday, Mongolia's national TV reported.

Mongolian officials said 134 out of the suspected 294 patients have been hospitalized, and the others, who have lighter symptoms, are quarantined at home. There have been no reports of deaths so far.

Mongolia has set up an emergency committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Miegombyn Enkhbold to take measures to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

Elementary schools in the country have suspended classes starting from Monday.

The first suspected HFMD case in Mongolia was reported Thursday in the Mongolian capital.

HFMD is a common illness of infants and children and characterized by fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters.

Individual cases and outbreaks of HFMD occur regularly worldwide, more frequently in the summer and early autumn. In the past decade, major outbreaks of HFMD attributable to EV71 have been reported in southeast Asia, including Malaysia in 1997 and China's Taiwan in 1998.