And we know there are important lessons to be learned. To understand what happened in Sarawak, we must understand Coxsackie itself. It belongs to a family known as enteroviruses. It was first isolated in Coxsackie, New York, in 1948. Coxsackie grows in the stomach and can spread in many ways.
Enteroviruses cause paralysis, inflammation of the brain and the linings of the lungs and heart.
They also cause fever with rashes. The members of the enterovirus group include Coxsackie types A and B, poliovirus and echovirus. They are resistant to common disinfectants. Coxsackie mutates genetically over long periods of time. Sometimes it alters its known patterns of behaviour, including its preferred targets.