Beijing reported 325 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease in the first week of June, a sharp rise from the 89 cases reported in the same period of last year, the local health authority said.

Most of the patients were children at nurseries, kindergartens or primary schools, and nearly 90 percent of them were under five, Beijing Municipal Health Bureau said in a press release on Friday.

The bureau said more cases could be reported in the coming weeks because the virus, which typically causes painful blisters around the mouth, throat, hands and feet, spreads more easily in the summer heat.

Beijing's high temperature has been hovering at 36 degrees Celsius for the past week.

The health bureau has told local hospitals to step up their guard against the disease, and warned parents and teachers to take preventive measures such as frequent handwashing.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters. It is spread by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stool of infected persons. The illness is not related to foot and mouth disease, which infects cattle, sheep and swine.

The disease killed three children in the eastern Shandong Province in May, when an outbreak hit at least 1,263 children in the city of Linyi.

(Xinhua News Agency June 9, 2007)