Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Vietnam tightens border checks as mysterious disease kills children in Cambodia

Vietnam tightens border checks as mysterious disease kills children in Cambodia 

Last Updated: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 05:00:00

A doctor is seen checking a child at Kantha Bopha children's hospital in Phnom Penh (Photo: AFP)

The outbreak of a mysterious disease which has claimed the lives of 56 children in Cambodia has prompted Vietnamese authorities to step up border checks and prevent the entry of animals and animal products.

The Vietnam Administration of Preventive Medicine on Tuesday ordered provinces bordering Cambodia to closely supervise the flow of travelers from Cambodia to Vietnam and tighten controls over the import of animals and animal products.
According to the World Health Organization, an unspecified illness striking children in Cambodia between April and July 8 has taken 56 lives among 74 infected cases.
The children are between three months and 11 years old, with the majority being under three years of age.
Fifty-nine cases, including the 56 fatal cases, had symptoms of high fever followed by rapid deterioration of respiratory functions.
Based on the latest laboratory results, a significant proportion of the samples tested positive for enterovirus 71 (EV-71), which causes the hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD). The EV-71 virus has been known to cause severe complications in some patients.
Additionally, a number of other pathogens, including dengue and streptococcus suis were identified in some of the samples. The samples were found to be negative for H5N1 and other influenza viruses, SARS and Nipah.
The Vietnam Administration of Preventive Medicine has asked directors of medical centers in border areas to implement quarantine procedures and other preventive measures.
Any traveler who shows symptoms of the disease must be quarantined, it said.

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The department also asked authorities at border gates to tighten checks on animals and animal products, while preventive medicine centers near border gates are tasked with preparing medicines and chemicals for possible infected cases.
The HFMD is contagious and spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids or feces of an infected person.
Last year, the disease claimed 169 lives of more than 110,000 infections in Vietnam.

Ministry issues new treatment plan for bizarre skin disease | Look At Vietnam

Ministry issues new treatment plan for bizarre skin disease

May 7, 2012

The Ministry of Health in Vietnam has brought out a new method to treat the bizarre and mysterious skin disease that is affecting residents in the central province of Quang Ngai, along with issuing warnings of further complications.

The new treatment method will replace the old plan that was issued in January 2012. From now on patients with mild inflictions can be treated by applying a cream containing corticoid and 2 per cent salicylic ointment all over their body, which will keep the skin moist and soft.
However, patients that are more seriously affected must be taken to the general hospital in the province or a bigger hospital in the city.
All doctors, irrespective of their division, must take part in diagnosing these patients. In case the patients suffer from kidney and liver failure, doctors must filter their blood and try and save lives.
The ministry also warned against complications such as blood bacterial contamination, pneumonia, lestospira-spirochaete bacteria, encephalitis, convulsion fits and even coma.
Quang Ngai Province had so far reported 180 cases of the yet unidentified skin disease, with eight persons having died at medical clinics and 11 at home.
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Travel affected by Virus Flu

The tourism authority is calling on travel firms not to send tourists to areas affected by super flu, dealing another blow to the industry that is already reeling from the global financial crisis and higher oil prices.

Last Monday, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism Deputy General Director Nguyen Manh Cuong signed Decree 347/TCDL-LH saying that all travel agencies should suspend tours to countries affected by the A H1N1 virus, which the World Health Organisation declared a pandemic on Thursday.

Designed to contain

"The move is designed to contain the disease, which has spread to many countries," Cuong said.

But travel firms are worried about the financial consequences on business.

Ta Huu Chien, from Transviet Tourist Company, said he would be forced to cancel booked tours.

"We will have to pay compensation for air tickets, hotel reservations, coaches and entry tickets to sight-seeing places," Chien said.

He said compensation could amount to billions of dong.

A representative from Vinatour Tourist Company said that Asian tours were a major part of his business, particularly trips to Singapore, Taiwan and Japan – all affected by the super flu pandemic.

"We agree that these tours should be stopped to protect people’s health, but enterprises such as ours should be given support to stay in business," she said.

Meanwhile, Viettravel Tourism Company’s Dang Thanh Tung said more than 30 tourist parties were booked to travel to China and Hong Kong this month.

"We heard about the order, but cannot implement it this month as consumers have booked the tours and all travelling procedures have been finalised," Tung said.

Cuong said travel firms ignoring the decree would face the consequences.

"A tourist found to be positive for the A H1N1 virus must be isolated and under treatment in a foreign country for weeks. Travel firms would have to cover this cost," C

Blue ear disease affects 270,000 pigs in Vietnam

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS), known as "blue ear" disease, has hit 270,000 pigsin Vietnam, or one percent of the country's pig population, since late March, local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times reported Tuesday.
Northern Thanh Hoa province has suffered the biggest loss with nearly 200,000 affected pigs, accounting for nearly 15 percent of the province's pig population, the paper quoted Nguyen Thanh Son, vice director of the country's Department of Animal Health, as saying.
Now, PRRS is hitting 10 Vietnamese provinces, including Thanh Hoa, Thai Binh, Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh in the northern region, and Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Lam Dong and Thua Thien Huein the central region, and Vinh Long in the southern one, according to the department.
PRRS was first recognized in the United States in the mid-1980sand is now present in most pig producing countries. The symptoms include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection.