Malaysia has quarantined a group from a school in Sarawak where a hand, foot-and-mouth epidemic is raging, on fears they will spread the disease throughout the country, officials said today.

The group of seven students and four teachers from Sarawak were in Perlis in Peninsular Malaysia for a girl scout event when they displayed symptoms of the disease.

"They complained of some low-grade fever and some ulcers in the mouth," the Health Ministry's director of disease control, Ramlee Rahmat, told AFP.

The group was admitted Monday to a hospital in Kangar where they are being held in isolation, he said.

Ramlee said their symptoms had abated but authorities had yet to confirm if they had hand, foot-and-mouth disease, which affects mainly infants and young children.

The group had travelled to Peninsular Malaysia despite Health Ministry advice asking Sarawakians to refrain from leaving their state, to curb the disease that has so far killed seven children.

Maintain good hygiene

The ministry has pleaded with parents to keep their children at home and maintain good hygiene but the disease has yet to show signs of abating, with some 200 new cases being reported daily.

To curb the spread, kindergartens and day-care centres have remained closed for nearly two weeks, while classes for children from primary one to three in 1,265 schools were cancelled Wednesday for a week.

Fears are growing that the disease, which has stricken nearly 5,000 people in Sarawak since the outbreak early this year, will spread throughout Peninsular Malaysia.

Some fifteen cases have been reported since January 1 in Kedah state which borders Perlis, but Ramlee said the occurrence was within norms.

"The disease is endemic to Malaysia ... you are bound to see cases from time to time because it is there," he said.