Hand-Foot-Mouth
Disease (HFMD) is spreading throughout all 63 Vietnamese cities and provinces,
getting more than 71,470 people affected, of whom 130 were dead, as of Monday,
local Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper reported.
While HFMD is expanding across the country,
the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) has not yet declared it as an
"epidemic" because it is still under "control", said the
report.
Nguyen Van Binh, director of MOH Preventive
Medicines Department, said the disease is under control when there are about
2,000 newly affected cases per week, or 8,000-10,000 cases per month.
However, in September alone, the country had
more than 26,000 newly affected HFMD patients with 31 dead, and in the first
half of October, the figures were reported at 10,000 and 16, respectively, said
the report.
So far, southern Ho Chi Minh City and central
Quang Ngai province are the most hit localities.
MOH will announce the epidemic nationally when
there are at least two localities reporting that the disease is out of their
control. The epidemic announcement will be made under two circumstances: first,
when the number of affected patients is more than those estimated by the
centrally-run medical agencies; secondly, when the disease develops
out-of-control or when there appears some new agent that causes high fatal rate
while there is not yet medicines for treatment, explained Binh.
The HFMD, caused by the Enterovirus 71 (EV71),
has such symptoms as fever, throat pain and vesicle on the hand palms and foot
soles. The patient can recover after about one week. However, sometimes the
disease is out of the doctor's control because it develops fast and leads to
death, just within 24-72 hours when first symptoms are found.
Patients are normally children under three
years old, but by the end of September there were eight adults having tests
with EV virus, who had taken care of the affected children, reported the
Vietnam's central Nha Trang Pasteur Institute.
Medical experts warned the disease would
become more complicated in the coming months due to the lack of preventive
vaccines and specific medicine for treatment. The disease is contaminated
through the digestive system or direct contact, hence the rate of infection is
high, especially now when there are adults affected by HFMD but they have no
outside symptoms.
Editor: Luo Yuan
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