Hefei (China), May 9 (Xinhua) The toll in hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) in China rose to 34 Friday with two more deaths reported from the eastern province of Anhui as nearly 25,000 people, mostly children, were infected, health ministry officials said Friday.

The ministry, which earlier said there were no new cases of the intestinal viral infection in Hefei, confirmed Friday one child died in the city and another in Bozhou.

The HFMD is caused by enterovirus 71 (EV71) and the victims are generally children up to six years of age.

According to the health department, the HFMD can be caused by a host of intestinal viruses. EV71 and Coxsackievirus (Cox A16) are the most common.

The usual symptoms of the disease are fever, blisters and ulcers in the mouth and rashes on hands and feet.

All the deaths have been reported from the eastern Chinese provinces of Anhui, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan and Zhejiang.