An epidemic of hand, foot-and-mouth disease in Malaysia's eastern state of Sarawak has killed a fifth person, officials said yesterday, as the government urged parents to keep children at home.

The Health Ministry's director for disease control Ramlee Rahmat said the latest fatality was a one-year-old girl who died on Wednesday.

"That puts the deaths at four this year and one at the end of last year in December, so it's five since this episode," he told AFP.

The disease causes painful mouth and throat ulcers, blisters on hands and feet and fever, and has periodically hit Sarawak.

In the worst outbreak of the disease in 1997, the state on Borneo island recorded 31 fatalities.

Keep children isolated

Officials have said that every day Sarawak is recording about 200 new cases of hand, foot-and-mouth disease, which affects mainly infants and young children.

Ramlee said the figure was unlikely to drop in the near term as people were being urged to come forward to report cases, but the disease would be brought under control by keeping children isolated.

The government has repeatedly urged parents to keep their children at home to prevent the spread of the contagious disease.

"There is no time for selfishness in this situation," Ramlee said, urging Malaysians to heed the advice.

Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek on Thurday reiterated his call for parents to avoid taking their children to crowded places such as shopping malls and cinemas to prevent the disease from spreading.