It’s HFMD, not monkeypox, health DG says on 3-year-old

Results from the National Public Health Laboratory (MKAK) have confirmed that a three-year-old brought to a health clinic earlier this month does not have monkeypox, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today.

However, he said the child does have hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

He said the child tested positive for Coxsackievirus A6 which causes HFMD, and negative for monkeypox as well as several other viruses.

“The initial diagnosis of this child was HFMD. The child was then monitored at Hospital Kuala Lumpur by a paediatrician. Two samples were taken, which MKAK tested for several types of viruses, including HFMD and monkeypox,” he said in a Facebook post.

Noor Hisham said the three-year-old was taken to the Batu 14 Health Clinic in Selangor twice: once on May 13 due to fever and again on May 16 for rashes.

He said the rashes turned into blisters on May 19 and began to burst on May 21.

This followed the circulation of a message showing a child’s picture and claiming that monkeypox had begun to spread in Malaysia.