Northern Vietnam province struggles with strange outbreak

[Snowy Owl]

Northern Vietnam province struggles with strange outbreak
Four have died and a total 54 have been infected with a strange outbreak in the northern mountainous province of Hoa Binh last month, said a local official.
http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=21152

Director of the provincial Health Department Quach Dinh Thong said patients experienced numbness, pain and tingling in their limbs, difficulty walking and breathing, along with heart problems.​

Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital, the Hoa Binh Nutrition Institute and its Health Protection Center have suggested that the outbreak may be Polyneuritis, a simultaneous inflammation of several nerves.​

?In the last several years, the disease had usually broken out in March or April, so we wonder why it has hit in September this year,? Thong said.​

So far, specialists from Japan, Denmark, and Germany have come to the site, but have yet to provide final conclusions, he added.​

Initial studies suggest that most of the patients lack vitamin B1, but did not identify the origin of the deficiency. ​

Head of the Health Ministry?s Treatment Department Ly Ngoc Kinh said ministry specialists would conduct a visit to Hoa Binh Monday.​

Several other mountainous provinces have been hit by a similar outbreak with smaller numbers of patients infected, but local authorities can not nail down the disease.​

In March 2001, some 4,000 people in Hoa Binh province had contracted Polyneuritis due to a deficiency in vitamin B1. ​

After being treated with vitamin B, most recovered.​

Source: Thanh Nien, VnExpress, Tuoi Tre ? By Luu Thi Hong​