Children's hospitals struggle with recent surge in patients

HCM CITY — The number of children with respiratory illnesses, acute diarrhoea and dengue fever has increased sharply in recent days, according to hospitals in HCM City.

The HCM City Paediatrics Hospital No 1's Respiratory Diseases Ward is severely overstretched, having to take in as many as 200-230 inpatients a day while it has just 100 beds.

At the Digestive Ward of HCM City Paediatrics Hospital No 2, many inpatients are suffering from acute diarrhoea.

Environmental pollution as well as unsafe and unhygienic food have increased considerably the risk of diarrhoea in children, according to doctors.

In the first nine days of December, the city had three siblings with acute diarrhoea who contracted cholera, and the eldest one, four years old, died of the disease.

The siblings live along a canal in Binh Chanh District's Minh Huong Commune. The water in the canal is heavily polluted and contaminated with all household waste being dumped directly into it.

Lai Phuoc Hoa, director of the Binh Chanh District Preventive Health Centre, said it was matter of concern that the water in the canal contained the cholera bacteria, exposing all residents in the neighbourhood to the disease.

The area is home to about 100 families who make a living doing menial jobs.

The HCM City Health Department has ordered relevant agencies to implement measures to control further outbreaks of cholera. It has urged district authorities to strengthen awareness campaigns about the disease, including prevention measures like using boiled water, eating well cooked food and washing hands with soap and water before eating.

Meanwhile, the Pasteur Institute has noted that the city is now having about 500 patients with dengue fever every week, up 50 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In this case, it is not just children, but the number of adults contracting the mosquito-borne disease also that is on the increase.

On December 6, a first-grade student of the Chuong Duong Primary School in District 1 died of dengue fever, said Nguyen Van The, director of the District 1 Preventive Health Centre. — VNS

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Warning of bird flu risks intensified

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has asked northern cities and provinces to strengthen bird flu control because of the possible high-risk period of the disease from now until the lunar new year (Tet) festival.

At the conference on bird flu control in Hanoi on Dec. 3, Deputy MARD Minister Diep Kinh Tan asked local agriculture and rural development departments to give advice or recommendations to authorities in order to reinforce disease control networks and thoroughly tackle outbreaks if they detected signs of the disease.

According to the deputy minister, inattentiveness of local authorities and people in disease prevention and control, unplanned vaccination and small-scaled husbandry habits are major reasons behind the lurking bird flu disease.

Nguyen Van Son, Director of the Veterinary Company Zone 1, said that bird flu was under control and would not impact on domestic fowls until Tet festival.

According to the Veterinary Department, bird flu outbreaks were reported in 63 communes and wards of 23 cities and provinces, forcing the culling of 75,770 fowls so far this year.

Localities have been conducting vaccination for poultry in the second phase of this year from November. The vaccination is expected to be completed this month./.

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Blue-ear disease seen in 32 provinces

HA NOI – As many as 32 provinces nation-wide have reported the outbreak of blue-ear pig disease, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Department of Animal Health.

The disease is expected to spread beyond Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces, largely due to the lack of local vigilance, said the department.

Over 300,000 infected pigs have been culled nation-wide this year, which is higher than in the 2008 outbreak.

Patrol boat collision kills police officer

THANH HOA – One policeman from central Thanh Hoa Province was reported missing after his patrol boat collided with another on Monday in a stretch of the Ma River in the province's Thieu Hoa District.

The incident happened when the Thieu Duong Commune's policeman Le Xuan Thuan was reportedly involved in a local raid to fight illegal sand exploitation in large rivers in the province.

Locomotive kills man asleep on tracks

DONG NAI — A HCM City-Ha Noi train on Monday killed a 30-year-old man while he was reportedly sleeping on the railway in Tan Hiep Ward, southern Dong Nai Province's Bien Hoa District. The train driver admitted to the local police that he could not stop the train in time to avoid the accident.

On September 17, a 40-year-old man died in a similar incident in central Quang Ngai Province's Mo Duc District. — VNS

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Brain haemorrhage deaths up 30-35%

HCM CITY — The rate of patients dying of brain haemorrhages was between 30-35 per cent, warned Dr Nguyen Anh Tai, head of HCM City-based Cho Ray hospital's Neurology Faculty.

Cho Ray Hospital, one of the biggest hospitals in the city, received about 1,200 patients during the first six months of this year. More than 40 patients were treated at the hospital on Tuesday alone.

"People's failure to control their hypertension is the most popular cause of the disease, which makes blood vessel break and overflow into brain tissue," says Dr Tai.

The patients who survive often suffer from a loss of motor skills and physical mobility.

"The recovery rate for most patients is limited," he says.

The disease is preventable in 80 per cent of cases, but Tai said the issue receives little attention from the public.

The abuse of drugs and alcohol can prompt the disease, he says.

Brain haemorrhages can attack people of any age, but the old and males, particularly those of over 50 years old, are the most vulnerable to the disease. Male patients account for 60 per cent of the hospital's total patients.

Tai says people should take simple measures to prevent the disease, including checking their blood pressure, having regular health check-ups, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising and avoiding alcohol and drug abuse. — VNS

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200,000 more pigs to get blue-ear shots

HA NOI — The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Department will administer over 200,000 doses of Chinese-made vaccines against blue-ear disease later this month, said Van Dang Ky, head of the department's epidemiological service.

Pigs in high-risk regions in the south would be prioritised for vaccination, Ky said.

If the vaccines prove safe and effective, they would be put into wider use, he added.

Department inspectors visited Guangdong, China, where the vaccine has seen success in preventing the spread of the disease in several southern Chinese provinces.

This was the fifth vaccine against blue-ear disease to be piloted in Viet Nam, Ky noted, and it was expected to show greater effectiveness.

The disease has been largely kept out of HCM City so far, thanks to strict control of transportation and slaughter of sick pigs.

Nguyen Phuoc Trung, deputy director of HCM City's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, warned, however, that the disease could still break out following the recently culling of swine belonging to 22 households in District 12. The city has offered financial support of VND25,000 per kg of live pigs to 11 households.

Phan Xuan Thao, head of the HCM City Animal Health Department, said blue-ear disease had mostly struck small-household farms with inadequate facilities to ensure sanitation.

The Prime Minister has asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to donate 25,000 litres of disinfectant to the southern provinces of Soc Trang, Tien Giang and Long An to help halt the spread of the disease.

Blue-ear disease has been reported in 27 out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide, mostly in the south. Figures from the Department of Animal Health showed that 56,810 pigs had contracted the disease and that 27,000 pigs had been culled.

Pigs raised using industrial methods were safe, and consumers did not need to avoid pork products, said Thao. — VNS

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Transport of pigs under scrutiny to stop blue-ear

A veterinary staff member carries out a biopsy on a carcass at Thuan Loi slaughter-house in HCM City. The city has ordered closer monitoring of the way pigs are transported into the city to keep out blue-ear disease. —VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

HCM CITY — Chairman of the HCM City People's Committee Le Hoang Quan has ordered for closer monitoring of transport of pigs into the city to keep out blue-ear disease.

The chairman also called for increased awareness of the disease among pig farmers.

"All measures must be taken to ensure safe pork is available for Tet (the Lunar New Year) early next year and farmers and breeders have disease-free animals for breeding after the epidemic abates," he said.

According to a preliminary report by the city Division of Animal Health, inspectors in District 9 found and destroyed more than two tonnes of pig carcasses in Long Binh Ward. They had been brought in from Dong Nai Province's Trang Bom District.

In Binh Chanh District, authorities found and destroyed 2.1 tonnes of infected meat at an illegal food shop.

In districts 1, 2, 12, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc, animal quarantine stations seized and destroyed more than 5.3 tonnes of illegally transported pork and suckling pigs.

Phan Xuan Thao, head of the animal health division, said the transport of pigs with blue-ear disease into the city from other provinces had been rising since the end of July.

And, things are worsening in the city's neighbourhood. All samples taken from pigs transported from Tay Ninh Province tested positive for the disease. For Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, the number was 35 out of 50.

Nguyen Trung Tin, city People's Committee deputy chairman and head of a Standing Board for Animal Diseases Prevention, said the city also had to focus on ensuring the safety of its 30,000 pigs.

He ordered the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to work with provinces to prevent the illegal transport of pigs, and the Division of Animal Health to disinfect the city, especially breeding and slaughter sites.

He asked the State-owned Vissan Company to buy up all the stocks of pigs sold by farmers to ensure there would be adequate supply this year.

Van Duc Muoi, the company's general director, fearing an impending pork scarcity, said the company would carry out the city's orders.

So far 22 provinces and cities have reported outbreaks of blue-ear disease.

Van Dang Ky of the Department of Animal Health said Can Tho and Ben Tre Province were the two latest locations to report outbreaks.

The department has sought clearance from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to import 210,000 more vaccines from China for pigs.— VNS

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