Foot-hand-mouth disease spreads
15-MAY-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 1
May 15, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
|
|
The foot-hand-mouth disease is spreading quickly in the southern region including HCM City, with dozens of children being hospitalised each day, health officials said.
The HCM City's Health Department reported that over 2,000 children have been hospitalised due to the foot -hand-mouth disease in the first four months this year alone, around 20-30% of them having serious symptoms like vomiting, fever and convulsion.
Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the National Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health, told the Daily that the disease appeared in the south since 2003 and begun to strongly develop since 2005. Now, the majority of cases are in HCM City and Dong Nai Province.
"This year, the disease has surfaced earlier than in previous years. Normally, it appears in June and July. Thus, parents and health experts should be on high alert," he said.
Yesterday, the HCM City Children No 1 Hospital reported that they received around 50 infected cases every day, 10% of whom are infected with Enterovirus 71, the same virus type that has killed 20 children in China since early this month.
Meanwhile, the HCM City Children No 2 Hospital said that around 60 children were under treatment at the hospital yesterday due to the disease.
Luong Huu Khanh, head of Communicable Disease Department of the HCM City Children No 2 Hospital, told the Daily that about half of the total number of children being hospitalised came from the southern provinces like Dong Nai, Can Tho and Long An.
In Dong N ai Province, around 229 children have been hospitalised in the first four months of this year, increasing 10 times compared to the same period of last year. The HCM City Pasteur Institute said that they found Enterovirus 71 in many infected case. '
Health experts warned that the virus is very dangerous and lethal, as it has killed many children in China, the neighbouring country of Vietnam.
Phan Van Tu, an specialist from the HCM City Pasteur Institute, said that EV71 was not new as it has been found in many countries, including Vietnam and China.
"Up to date, the virus mainly appears in the southern region," he added.
According to doctor Khanh, there is not sufficient vaccine to stamp out the disease. He advised parents to keep children clean and monitor food hygiene for them.
Parents should take children to hospital if they have any symptoms like long lasting fever, nausea, vomiting and their hand, feet and mouth are often covered with pus-filled blisters.
To control the epidemic, the HCM City Health Department yesterday set up a steering committee to monitor the epidemic.
Nguyen Van Chau, director of the Health Department, said that the first aim was to uncover foot-hand-mouth cases, prevent it from spreading widely and tighten supervision on infected cases.
"Currently, we are instructing the city's paediatric hospitals to conduct investigations on the disease caused 11 by EV7 1 virus. Additionally, preventive medicine centres should promote information dissemination campaigns at grassroots levels to make parents more aware about the disease.
According to the Ministry of Health, the foot-hand-mouth disease attacked at least 2,284 children in 2006 and 2,988 in 2007.
|
 |
|
Advertising
