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Researchers call for greater focus on surveillance and genomics. China has seen several outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth virus in recent years.AP PHOTO An outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in China, which since January has killed 19 children and made nearly 42,000 ill, has researchers calling for a better surveillance system to detect the disease and for action to speed up vaccine development."The situation of preventing and containing hand, foot and mouth disease is very serious at the moment," Deng Haihua, spokesman for China's health ministry, said last week. More cases are expected, as the disease normally...

BEIJING - China's Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert Saturday calling for heightened efforts to control a virus that has caused the deaths of 22 children in one city and shows signs of spreading. Health bureaus around the country must step up monitoring for hand, foot and mouth disease following a "relatively large" outbreak in the central city of Fuyang, the Health Ministry said in notices on its Web site. The ministry warned that cases were more numerous this year than in recent years, and the peak for transmission would likely come in June and July. The outbreak is another...