Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

[Commonground]

May 23, 2008
Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children
HANOI (Vietnam) - VIETNAM has warned health officials nationwide to be on the lookout for an infectious disease that has killed 12 children in the country this year, a health official said on Friday.
So far, Vietnam has reported about 2,800 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, a common childhood illness that typically causes little more than a fever and rash, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Preventive Medicine Department, under Vietnam's Ministry of Health.

Mr Nga did not give the number of cases from previous years.

About 400 of those cases have been blamed on enterovirus 71, or EV-71, one of several viruses that cause the illness.

EV-71 can result in a more serious form of hand, foot and mouth disease that can lead to paralysis, brain swelling or death.

Neighboring China has been particularly hard hit by the virus this year, with more than 25,000 cases among children and 43 deaths.

In Vietnam, state media quoted Trinh Quan Huan, vice minister of health, as saying the situation is becoming more complicated with the virus spreading in the north of the country.

The disease is usually characterised by ulcers in the mouth, rash and blisters on hands and feet.

Since it mostly sickens children and is easily spread, the ministry has ordered that kindergartens should be closed for two weeks if at least two cases are reported. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest+News/Asia/STIStory_240282.html

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

1,300 children with HFMD in Ho Chi Minh City

Friday, May 23, 2008

Dengue fever plagues HCMC children


More than 3,000 children have dengue fever in Ho Chi Minh City, twice the number last year, the city?s Health Department reported Tuesday.

Dr. Bich Lien, head of the Children Hospital 1?s Dengue Fever Department, said last week she was admitting 20-30 patients daily, but that had gone up to 40-60 now.

Children Hospital 2 is treating around 60 children at the moment.

Mekong Delta provinces too have been hit hard by the disease, with more than 10,000 cases having been reported so far this year.

The Vietnam Drug Administration last week instructed local health agencies and drug firms to stock up on drugs to respond to the current escalation of dengue fever.

Since the rainy season began a few weeks ago, some other seasonal diseases like hand-foot-and-mouth disease, mumps and chickenpox have also been on the increase, according to Children Hospital 1 deputy director Nguyen Thanh Hung.

Nearly 1,300 children have been affected by hand-foot-and-mouth, 300 percent higher than last year.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/healthy/?catid=8&newsid=38717

http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=159000#post159000

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02HEA260508

HCM City to boost efforts on epidemic prevention, control

(26-05-2008)

HCM CITY ? The city?s Health Department and other government agencies are making concerted efforts to prevent further spread of dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease, Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan has said.

Huan asked authorities to step up preventive measures in a meeting with the city?s Health Department, Preventive Medicine Centre and other hospitals, in response to the risk of outbreaks in the city last Friday.

Le Truong Giang, deputy director of the city?s Health Department, said the city?s large population of seven million made it more difficult to control.

Spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes in old apartment buildings and construction sites had been ineffective, said Giang.

According to the city?s Health Department, in the first five months of the year, 755 people contracted hand, foot and mouth disease, and of that number, seven died.

The number of dengue fever cases nearly reached 3,000, doubling the number during the same period last year. Two people died.

Rainy weather worsens the problem, as it creates favourable conditions for not only dengue fever and hand, foot and mouth disease but also for other respiratory ailments. ? VNS

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="92%">Vietnam warns of hand, foot, mouth disease spreading among children
May 26, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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</td> </tr> </tbody></table> Vietnam has warned health officials nationwide to be on the lookout for an infectious disease that has killed 12 children in the country this year, a health official said Friday.

So far, Vietnam has reported about 2,800 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, a common childhood illness that typically causes little more than a fever and rash, said Nguyen Huy Nga, director of the Preventive Medicine Department, under Vietnam's Ministry of Health.

http://www.intellasia.net/news/articles/health/111244301.shtml

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SOC260608

In Briefs

(26-06-2008)

Foot-hand-mouth victims reach 71

BINH THUAN ? Seventy-one foot-hand-mouth patients have been hospitalised so far this year, a seventeen-fold increase compared to the same period last year, said the Binh Thuan Province?s Preventive Medicine Centre.

The centre warned that children whose feet, hands, mouths are covered with pus-filled blisters should go to hospital for immediate treatment. A 10-month-old patient was reported to have died because of late treatment.

 

[Shiloh]

Re: Vietnam warns of HFMD spreading among children

Source: http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA081108

Ben Tre reports sharp jump in HFMD among children

(08-11-2008)

BEN TRE ? More than 100 children were admitted to hospital with hand, foot and mouth disease, or HFMD, in Ben Tre province last month ? double the number in August.

The sharp increase threatened to make Ben Tre the most heavily afflicted of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta River province, warned its Preventive Medicine Centre?s Epidemics Department director Ho Trung Tuyen.

An average of five or more victims were being found and treated each day, he said.

Ten children ? most of them aged three ? had been found infected with the disease at a nursery in the Mo Cay District?s Cam Son Commune.

Preventive Medicine Centre director Nguyen Huu Sinh said provincial health authorities and relevant agencies were working together to halt the spread of the disease.

Health workers would disinfect high-risk areas and raise awareness among the public, especially households living near infected zones, about the need to prevent and control the disease, he said.

The training of attendants at 137 public nurseries and private day-care centres about how to prevent and recognise the symptoms of the disease was about to begin.

All infected children must be identified and treated as soon as possible, the director said.

Central Paediatrics Hospital physician Nguyen Van Loc warned the disease could turn into small epidemics in nurseries and kindergartens during summer and autumn when the virus was likely to become more virulent.

The Ben Tre Preventive Medicine Centre says that at least 630 children, most aged between two and three, have been afflicted.

There have been no deaths reported.

HFMD is most prevalent among infants and children; it symptoms include mouth sores and a rash with blisters. ? VNS