A 14-month-old boy has died of hand-foot-mouth disease in Linyi city of east China's Shandong Province. This is the second death since the epidemic broke out in April, officials said Monday.

Sixty-one new cases were reported on Sunday, the provincial health department said.

The child was admitted to Linyi People's Hospital on Saturday morning after developing a fever and blisters, said a spokesman of the department.

His condition worsened and he died on Saturday evening, the spokesman said.

Of the 61 new cases of the disease reported on Sunday, 27 patients were hospitalized, it said.

By Sunday, 191 hand-foot-mouth patients were receiving treatment in hospital in Linyi city.

A two-year-old girl died from the disease on April 29.

Hand-foot-mouth disease, also known as coxsackievirus infection, is a childhood illness that mainly affects children under the age of 10. Symptoms include fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters. It often begins with a sore throat. Moderately contagious, the disease can sometimes be fatal.

The city has reported 981 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease since April, 609 of the victims have recovered, according to the department. The patients are scattered in different counties and towns in the Linyi area.

Local health departments have launched a public awareness campaign -- reminding parents that one of the best preventive measures for the disease is frequent hand-washing -- and isolating children who are affected. They are monitoring the outbreak closely.

The provincial health department has also dispatched three teams of experts to the city to help control the epidemic.

Shandong reported 3,030 cases in 2006, two of which were fatal. It reported 2,477 cases of hand-food-mouth disease in 2005, including one death.

Source: Xinhua