Vietnam: 2025 Measles

[Shiloh]

Source: https://evrimagaci.org/tpg/vietnam-faces-measles-outbreak-with-over-42000-suspected-cases-280226

21 March 2025
Vietnam Faces Measles Outbreak With Over 42,000 Suspected Cases
Health officials ramp up vaccination efforts as cases continue to rise, especially among children.

As of March 21, 2025, Vietnam is grappling with a widespread measles outbreak that has affected various provinces across the country. From the start of the year until March 20, the Ministry of Health reported a staggering 42,488 suspected cases of measles, including 4,027 confirmed cases. The southern region has been hit especially hard, accounting for 54.9% of all suspected cases, while the Central region and the North follow with 20% and 16.4%, respectively.

Dr. Hoang Minh Duc from the Department of Preventive Medicine stated, "The data shows a significant increase in diseases compared to the previous year, and careful monitoring is essential as we expect to see more cases in instances where vaccination coverage is lacking." The trend is concerning due to the high percentage of cases found among children aged 9 months to under 15 years, which make up 72.7% of reported cases.

The cities reporting the highest concentrations of cases include Da Nang, with 2,323 confirmed instances, Gia Lai (2,027), Dong Thap (1,355), and An Giang (1,169). Five fatalities due to measles were recorded, with two occurring in Ho Chi Minh City, and one each in Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Binh Phuoc. This alarming rise indicates the significance of stringent public health measures.

According to the health authorities, a staggering 95% of those infected had either not been vaccinated against measles or were unclear about their vaccination status. This highlights the critical need for enhanced immunization campaigns, especially in urban areas where population mobility is high, and among ethnic minority groups in mountainous regions who might have limited access to healthcare services.​..

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Hue: The number of measles cases with serious complications has increased dramatically

To date, Hue Central Hospital has recorded more than 700 cases (inside and outside Hue city), including children under the age of vaccination and children who have been vaccinated.

VietnamPlus
03/28/2025

As in many provinces and cities across the country, the measles situation in Hue City this year is quite complicated, with the number of measles cases and cases with severe complications increasing significantly compared to previous years.

The local health sector is accelerating its efforts to complete the measles vaccination campaign before March 31. Treatment centers are focusing on triaging and isolating measles cases and suspected measles cases.

Many cases of measles are serious

From November 2024 to today, the number of children hospitalized and transferred to Hue Central Hospital due to measles and suspected measles has begun to increase rapidly. To date, the unit has recorded more than 700 cases (inside and outside Hue City), including children who have not yet been vaccinated and those who have been vaccinated.

The Department of Gastroenterology, Urology, and Tropical Diseases at Hue Central Hospital's Pediatric Center has now erected barriers to block the entrance to the isolation area to separately treat measles cases and suspected measles cases. With 45 pediatric patients admitted, additional beds must be added inside and outside the ward to allow for treatment.

According to Dr. Tran Thi Hanh Chan, Head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Urology, the number of patients is increasing rapidly, causing the department to become overcrowded. When a child presents to the clinic with signs of suspected measles (fever, cough, runny nose, fatigue, etc.), they will be isolated and their vaccination history will be reviewed. Children who have not been fully vaccinated against measles will receive a vaccine within 72 hours as a precautionary measure.

Dr. Tran Thi Hanh Chan stated that there is currently no specific treatment for measles; patients are treated based on symptoms and prevent the disease from progressing. Specifically, patients are given high doses of vitamin A, proper hygiene, and adequate nutrition to overcome the early stages of measles. Measles often causes serious complications such as pneumonia, meningitis, or sepsis in immunocompromised children, but there are now cases of serious complications unrelated to an underlying or chronic illness.

Many children with measles develop serious complications requiring ventilators and blood filtration and are transferred to the pediatric intensive care and emergency department of the pediatric center. Here, a ward with six beds and numerous machines is always operating at full capacity, sometimes even requiring additional beds.

The most serious case currently in the department is an 11-month-old patient from Quang Binh province who underwent dialysis. Children with measles experience complications such as severe pneumonia, respiratory failure, and septic shock. Doctors are actively treating the child with antibiotics and vasopressors, and are placing him on a ventilator. The child's condition is progressing well, and he is likely to be weaned off the ventilator in the coming days.

Specialist Doctor II Nguyen Dac Luong, head of the Department of Pediatric Intensive Care and Emergency, stated that this year, there have been many severe cases of measles, including many complications such as pneumonia, causing progressive respiratory failure. Many cases received from central provinces such as Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and Quang Tri have been rescued. A typical example is that of a child patient (residing in Ha Tinh province) who was transferred with paralysis of both lower limbs and an autonomic nervous system disorder. Children with measles develop complications of encephalitis. After treatment, the child was discharged from the hospital in stable condition.

Acceleration of the completion of the vaccination campaign

According to the Hue City Department of Health, from the beginning of the year to March 24, 2025, the locality recorded 628 suspected cases of measles and 57 confirmed cases of measles. The industry sent 94 test samples to the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang, of which 28 samples tested positive for the measles virus. The rate of confirmed measles cases and suspected measles fever cases was nearly 4.8 cases/100,000 people and over 52 cases/100,000 people, respectively. Meanwhile, during the entire year of 2024, the locality recorded only 27 suspected cases of measles and 24 confirmed cases of measles.

Currently, 9 districts, towns, and villages in Hue City have reported measles cases. As the area with the most complicated developments, Thuan Hoa District has recorded nearly 250 cases of rash fever and 32 confirmed cases of measles (most of whom had not been vaccinated). The risk of measles infection in the city is expected to continue to increase.

In response to this situation, the Hue City People's Committee released a plan on March 21 for implementing a vaccination campaign to prevent and control measles. The campaign begins on March 25 and culminates on March 26 and 27.

Hue City currently has more than 5,306 children aged 6-9 months and nearly 30,000 children aged 1-10 years. The Ministry of Health has allocated 5,400 doses of measles vaccine to localities to vaccinate children aged 6-9 months; Nearly 24,000 doses of measles and rubella vaccine (MR vaccine) to vaccinate children aged 1-10 years.

ttxvn-soi.jpg
Implementing measles vaccination. (Photo: Thuy Dung/VNA)
In recent days, the health sector has been coordinating with the local education and training sector to urgently investigate the number of children who have not been vaccinated or have not received two doses of measles vaccines, in order to quickly roll out the campaign; Priority subjects are preschool children and primary school students; Strive to complete the campaign no later than March 31.

During the work program of the Ministry of Health inspection delegation in Hue City on the afternoon of March 25, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Dong, Deputy Director of the Pasteur Institute of Nha Trang, head of the working delegation, highly appreciated the attention of the city leaders as well as the planning work of the local health sector; Do not let vaccine shortages occur in the region.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Dong noted that the city should strengthen community monitoring, pay attention to tracking the medical history of children aged 6-9 months in statistical reports to propose appropriate solutions; analyze risks by location, take intervention measures and allocate resources appropriately.

The city's health department must train basic medical staff in data analysis and evaluation. Vaccination work must ensure safety and prevent cross-infection.

https://www.vietnam.vn/fr/hue-so-ca-mac-soi-gap-bien-chung-nang-tang-cao-dot-bien

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google

Measles epidemic in Hanoi shows no signs of abating

Monday April 14, 2025 04:54

Hanoi still records over 200 measles cases per week. The number of cases has been increasing in recent weeks.

According to a representative of the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC), during the week (April 4-11), 212 measles cases were recorded in Hanoi, in 30 districts, towns and cities (an increase of 9 cases compared to the previous week).

Accumulated from the beginning of 2025 to now, Hanoi has recorded 1,665 measles cases in 30/30 districts, towns and cities (while there were no cases in the same period in 2024).

Measles patients are distributed by specific age groups: 12.1% of cases are children under 6 months old; 15.2% are children from 6-8 months old; 9.7% are children from 9-11 months old; 22.1% are children from 1-5 years old; 14.3% are children from 6-10 years old; 26.6% are over 10 years old.

A representative of the Hanoi CDC said that the number of measles cases has not shown a downward trend, and the recorded cases are mainly people who have not been vaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated against measles.

It is forecasted that the number of measles cases will continue to increase and tend to increase in the group over 6 years old.

Hanoi CDC recommends that the Medical Centers of districts, towns and cities continue to review and organize measles vaccination for children who are subject to the campaign, focusing on children aged 6 to under 9 months and children aged 1-10 years who have not received 2 doses of measles vaccine.

At the same time, strengthen surveillance to detect hand, foot and mouth disease in the community and kindergartens with cases and outbreaks; organize thorough treatment activities, general environmental sanitation, and disease prevention disinfection.

In addition, the Health sector strengthens coordination with the Education and Training sector in monitoring, preventing, and handling cases and outbreaks of measles, hand, foot and mouth disease... in schools; coordinates the implementation of vaccination in schools; and disseminates disease prevention measures to parents.

https://baolaocai.vn/dich-soi-tai-ha-noi-chua-co-dau-hieu-giam-post400177.html

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google​

The country has recorded more than 76,300 measles cases, with 2 more deaths.

On April 19, the Ministry of Health reported that in week 16 (April 12-17), the country recorded 4,122 suspected cases of measles, down 8.8% compared to the previous week (4,519 cases) and recorded 2 more deaths related to measles, including one case being treated for cancer, having many underlying diseases and one case of a child being hospitalized late after 3 days.

Saturday, April 19, 2025 | 20:36 GMT+7

The country has recorded more than 76,300 measles cases, with 2 more deaths.

Since the beginning of 2025, the country has recorded 76,312 suspected measles cases in 63 provinces and cities, of which 8,614 were positive, including 10 deaths related to measles.

Commenting on the epidemic situation, the Ministry of Health informed that the number of cases tends to increase from week 9, level off in week 14 and decrease in weeks 15 and 16. Most of the provinces with increasing cases are in the Northern region. The Northern provinces have seen an increase in cases starting from 2025 (2024 has a very low number of cases), the number of cases in the remaining regions has basically leveled off and the increasing trend is not as clear as before.

The age of measles has begun to change by age group after the end of the measles vaccination campaign. Compared to the first 3 months of 2025, the group from 1 year old to 10 years old (accounting for 61%) has decreased by 6%; slightly decreased in the group under 1 year old (accounting for 2.7%), decreased by 0.4% (including the group of children under 6 months old who are not indicated for measles vaccination); the group over 10 years old (accounting for 35.9%) increased by 6.4% (Group over 10 years old: 11-15 years old accounts for 19.2%, and the group over 16 years old accounts for 16.7%).

Up to now, most provinces and cities have urgently developed plans, organized local implementation, and mobilized the participation and support of local departments and authorities in reviewing subjects and organizing implementation.

By the end of April 17, 2025, 52/54 provinces had achieved a vaccination rate of over 95% (meeting the planned target); 2/54 provinces had a high vaccination rate of 90-95%. In addition, the Ministry of Health also focuses on information and coordination work, working with the National Health Information Center to improve the quality of infectious disease reporting, and coordinating with press agencies to disseminate information about the epidemic situation and prevention measures.

Faced with the above situation, the health sector has implemented many drastic measures. The Ministry of Health has sent an official dispatch to the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology/Pasteur and the Departments of Health of provinces and centrally run cities to review and propose registration of subjects for measles vaccination, coordinate with relevant units to develop a plan to implement the third measles vaccination campaign in 2025, and at the same time direct medical facilities to strengthen medical examination and treatment and infection control.

The Ministry of Health informed that although the epidemic situation has shown signs of easing, the health sector still recognizes many challenges. Some localities have not achieved high vaccination rates (over 95%) due to difficulties in reaching the subjects, especially in remote areas and large urban areas; Awareness of a part of the population is still limited, leading to fear of vaccination. In addition, the number of grassroots health workers is still low, causing difficulties for implementation.

To effectively respond to the measles epidemic, the Ministry of Health directs the Department of Health of provinces and cities to strengthen communication about the epidemic situation and disease prevention recommendations; Review children from 11 to 15 years old who have not been vaccinated/have not received 2 doses of measles-containing vaccine in all provinces and cities and have unknown vaccination history, have never had measles, and wish to receive measles-containing vaccine to ensure accuracy, clearly stating the number of subjects in high-risk areas.

The Ministry of Health also requested the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute to guide provinces and cities to review and re-count the number of subjects aged 11 to 15, clearly stating the number of subjects in high-risk areas; Coordinate the implementation of the plan for the third measles vaccination campaign in 2025.

In addition, medical facilities need to do a good job of triaging, admitting, treating patients and controlling infections. Medical facilities must ensure full and timely reporting of disease cases according to regulations./.

According to VNA

https://baothanhhoa.vn/ca-nuoc-da-g...uong-hop-mac-soi-them-2-ca-tu-vong-246195.htm

 

[Pathfinder]

Translation Google​

Children in the 11-15 age group have an increase in measles cases.

People's Representative Newspaper
04/30/2025 | 08:32

According to the report of the Department of Disease Prevention (Ministry of Health), in the week from April 20 to 26, the whole country recorded 3,942 suspected measles cases, down 4.3% compared to the previous week (4,122 cases) and from the beginning of 2025 to now, the whole country has recorded 81,691 suspected measles cases in 63 provinces and cities.

Thus, compared to the time with the highest number of cases in the week, the number of cases recorded in the week has decreased by 30%.

Measles still has a high incidence in children aged 11-15; there have been cases of influenza A (H5N1) in humans; dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease have also begun to increase. With hot and humid summer weather and heavy rain, the Ministry of Health believes that diseases transmitted through the digestive tract, respiratory tract, and mosquito-borne diseases may increase rapidly.

The report also provides data for 2025, with measles cases showing an increasing trend from week 9 (after Tet) and starting to decrease from weeks 15 to 17. Most of the provinces with increasing cases are in the Northern region.

In particular, the age of disease has changed by age group after the recent measles vaccination campaign.

Specifically, compared to the first 3 months of 2025, the group from 1 to 10 years old (accounting for 65.8%) decreased by 1.6%; the group under 1 year old (accounting for 2.9%) decreased by 0.2% (including the group of children under 6 months old without measles vaccination indication); the group over 10 years old (accounting for 31.3%) increased by 1.8%.

Of which, the group from 11 to 15 years old accounts for 15.8% and the group over 16 years old accounts for 13.7%.

To effectively respond to the measles epidemic, the Ministry of Health has recently issued an official dispatch to the People's Committees of provinces and cities, the Institutes of Hygiene and Epidemiology, and the Pasteur Institute, directing the Departments of Health of provinces and cities to urge the acceleration of the 3rd measles vaccination campaign in 2025, completing the first vaccination before April 30, and the second vaccination before May 15.

At the same time, promote propaganda and update information on the epidemic situation and disease prevention recommendations to the people. For medical examination and treatment facilities, it is necessary to effectively carry out patient triage, admission, treatment and infection control.

Song Le​

https://daibieunhandan.vn/tre-trong-nhom-11-15-tuoi-mac-soi-gia-tang-post412032.html