At least 15 people have died of hand-foot-mouth disease this year in east China's Shandong Province with two more deaths reported, local health authority said Monday.

The two people, one from Heze City and the other from Liaocheng City, both died on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 15 in the province, according to the provincial health administration.

The administration did not provide further details about the two latest victims of the contagious disease.

As of Monday, all the 17 cities of the province have reported the disease. Totally 11,489 cases of the disease have been reported, among which 7,117 have been recovered.

Heze has registered 12 deaths from the disease in the outbreak, Jining City registered two and Liaocheng one, since the first victim, a 20-month boy, died in Heze on March 22.

Heze, the worst-hit area of Shandong confirmed totally 4,557 cases of the disease Sunday.

More than eighty experts on the provincial level from ten medical institutions have been sent to Heze to reinforce the assistance to local medical service.

The disease, which is more common in summer and autumn, is not included in the routine reporting list of infectious diseases in China.

Hand-foot-mouth disease is a common childhood illness that mainly affects children under the age of 10. Symptoms include fever, sores in the mouth and a rash with blisters. It can sometimes be fatal if complications occur.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2009)