Beijing's health authority on Wednesday confirmed the first child death of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in the capital.

Deng Xiaohong, spokeswoman of the Beijing Health Bureau, said the child, a 13-month-old boy from northern Changping District, had died on the way to a hospital last Sunday.

She said the child had tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV71), a virus that causes the majority of HFMD deaths in China.

The spokeswoman also confirmed that another child from north China's Hebei Province had died of HFMD in a Beijing hospital, but she did not reveal when the child died.

"Under the disease counting regulations of the Ministry of Health, the child from Hebei was not counted in Beijing's disease toll," said Deng.

Hebei Province, which neighbors Beijing, had not previously reported any child death from HFMD.

Beijing counting of HFMD infection ran up to 3,606 as of May 12, up from 1,492 cases reported on May 4. The health bureau did not update the figure by Wednesday morning.

Deng said that Beijing's Chaoyang District has so far the city's largest number of infections, followed by southern Fengtai and northern Changping districts.

The bureau's figures showed that as of Wednesday, a total of 70 children remained in Beijing's hospitals for the epidemic treatment. Among them, 55 were locals and 15 were from elsewhere.

The spokeswoman said the child deaths should not be seen as a signal for the worsening disease control situation in the national capital.

"Both deaths should be attributed to the delay in getting hospital treatment by the children's families. We again urged parents to send their children to standard hospitals immediately after they find children to have likely symptoms related to the disease," said Deng.

Many of Beijing residents are reluctant to send their children to hospitals, which have also enrolled HFMD patients from other parts of the country, said a doctor in Ditan Hospital, the largest hospital specialized in contagious diseases in China.

"Some parents refused to heed doctors' advice to leave their children in hospital. They complained that we have also taken in patients from outside Beijing, for example from Fuyang City, where the disease first broke out," said Cai Gaochang, a doctor with the information department of the hospital.

The national capital has the best hospitals and doctors in the country. Patients from around the country opt for Beijing for treating complicated diseases.

Beijing's health authority has reinforced the viral epidemic control effort in kindergartens.

The Caoqiao Kindergarten in Fengtai District was ordered to suspend classes this week for a thorough disinfection, after two children were found to be infected with the disease virus. A teacher surnamed Li said that more than 200 children in the kindergarten have gone through disease prevention checks to exclude the possibility of HFMD infection.

At least two Beijing kindergartens were suspended last week after children showed symptoms of the disease.

(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2008)