Over 100 children hospitalised with rare skin infection

More than 100 kindergarten children in southwest China have been hospitalised after unexplained skin infection was found on their lower limbs, local health authorities said today.
Some of the children of the privately-owned Guji Kindergarten in Changsha Township of Kaixian County in Chongqing Municipality yesterday showed 'petechiae' or small red or purple spots caused by bleeding into the skin, they said.
A total of 115 children from the kindergarten have so far been taken to three local hospitals for treatment and observation, sources with the county's public health emergency response centre said.
Blood and urine samples have been sent to Chongqing City and Beijing for tests, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Local health authorities carried out a check of all of the roughly 300 children in the kindergarten.
All the hospitalised children are in stable condition, the report said, adding that two of them are in relatively serious but not life-threatening condition.
Contagion has initially been ruled out, it said.
Health experts from local authorities as well as the National Health and Family Planning Commission have begun a coordinated investigation into the cause of the disease outbreak.