A doctor from Beijing Youan Hospital said Tuesday the spread of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) would slow from September.

HFMD had killed nine people this year in Beijing by June 27, according to the Beijing health bureau.

"The peak rate of its spread was from June to August, but the situation will change after September," said Liang Lianchun, general director of the Department of Infectious Diseases at YouAn Hospital.

As one of the two biggest hospitals treating infectious diseases, YouAn Hospital received more than 800 HFMD patients by June 30 - nearly 60 percent were severe cases.

"The disease broke out in 2008. A complete cycle of development usually takes four to five years, so the epidemic reached its peak this year. This means there will be fewer people affected in the following years and we will no longer need to panic," he said.

Statistics from the health bureau show that about 2,000 to 3,000 new HFMD cases were diagnosed in the Beijing Children's Hospital every week from May this year, and the number climbed to more than 3,000 last week, over 200 percent more than the same period last year.

Liang said that more than half the patients were children of migrant workers. Severe cases were diagnosed with other fatal diseases, including pulmonary edema and encephalitis.

"The basic medical treatment in the hospital for normal cases is traditional Chinese medicine. Since there is no vaccine for the disease in China, prevention is much more important. Washing hands is best," he said.

The Beijing health bureau announced on June 10 it had created a medical group that specializes in HFMD. As many as 87 experienced doctors at 11 hospitals will handle emergency cases.

Deng Haihua, a press official from the Ministry of Health said on June 12 that more than 350,000 people were diagnosed with HFMD nationwide in May this year, twice the number of the same period last year, and 186 had died.