Meningitis - Vietnam - Rash of meningitis plagues Hanoi maternity ward

[KC]

Last Updated: Monday, May 22, 2006 11:20:33 Vietnam (GMT+07)
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=15717

Rash of meningitis plagues Hanoi maternity ward


Nineteen newborns contracted meningitis or septicemia in the past two weeks, with one death, during post-delivery care at Vietnam?s central Maternity Hospital.

Nguyen Viet Tien, the Hanoi-based hospital?s director on Saturday said the infants, with only developing immune systems, might contract the disease from visiting relatives.

He added the air-conditioning and enclosed spaces of maternity wards could facilitate the illness passed from unsuspecting family members already carrying the virus.

Meanwhile, experts warned infections could rise early next month due to the sunny and rainy weather.

Meningitis is an inflammation of brain or spinal membranes caused by a viral or bacterial infection. Fatal meningitis often inflames the membranes or meninges, causing symptoms such as severe headaches, vomiting, stiff neck, and high fever.

Reported by Lien Chau ? Translated by Hoang Bao

 

[KC]

Re: Rash of meningitis plagues Hanoi maternity ward

Re: Rash of meningitis plagues Hanoi maternity ward

Now it's in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Hanoi and HCM City are a long ways apart. See the signs and symptoms and the WHO comments.
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Microbe infects health workers
(29-05-2006)
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02SOC290506

HCM CITY — Two health workers have been found infected by a bacterium found in three babies hospitalised after getting a vaccine shot earlier this month in HCM City.

The two are among five workers who administered the vaccines which apparently caused toxic shock syndrome killing one child and seriously affecting five others.

Doctor Adwoa Bentsi-Enchill, a member of the World Health Organisation team that is helping Viet Nam identify the cause of the babies’ infection, said on Thursday it was the same group of bacterium – Staphylococus aureus – found in the children.

But inspectors had to make tests to see if the microbes found in the workers and children were identical.

The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.org says Staphylococus aureus (S. aureus) spreads through an infected wound, skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, and contact with objects like towels, sheets, clothing, or equipment used by an infected person.

It can cause minor skin infections, abscesses, and even fatal diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, endocarditis, and septicemia.

While S. aureus proved deadly for the babies, the workers have been unaffected.

After getting shots of a vaccine made by the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline called Priorix for measles, mumps, and rubella, all six babies developed high fever, abscesses, bruises, diarrhoea, convulsion, shock, and respiratory problems. (hemorrhagic disease?)

One of them died the same day after being admitted to hospital and four others have since returned home.

The sixth is still in intensive care at the Children’s Hospital No.1 where she is being fed through tubes.

But the WHO experts warned that the presence of the microbe was not conclusive proof it was the cause of the illness and the investigation should continue.

They also gave a clean bill of health to the storage and vaccination processes saying these had been carried out in the prescribed manner.

Deputy Director of the city Department of Health, Le Truong Giang, said if the bacterium had indeed caused the toxic shock syndrome in the babies, why had only those six been affected though others had got the shots as well.

He admitted the investigators faced a challenge since the bottles containing the vaccine could not be retrieved.

"We don’t have regulations stipulating the retention of the bottles and so they went into the dustbin right away," he said.

Since the news of the vaccinations gone awry became public, parents have been wary of taking their children to medical centres for shots.

Giang said the number had fallen by half even though his department urged parents to adhere to the vaccination schedule. — VNS