Sharp rise in hand, foot and mouth disease in Can Tho

(VNA) – The number of children infected with hand, foot and mouth disease
in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho has sharply increased since last month,
according to the municipal Preventive Medical and Heath Care Centre.

The centre said by last
weekend, the number of patients in the first nine months of the year had
increased by 13.5 percent compared to the same period last year. Of the city’s
nine districts, O Mon district saw the highest increase with 78.7 percent
compared to the same period last year.

The Can Tho Children
Hospital reported it received an average of 100 cases of hand and foot-mouth
disease daily, mostly children aged two or three years old from around the city
and other provinces in the Mekong Delta, including Soc Trang, Hau Giang, Vinh
Long and An Giang.

According to the hospital’s
statistics, there has also been an increase in the number of infants under a
year old hospitalised due to hand, foot and mouth disease.

Doctors and experts at the
hospital appealed for authorities to improve local peoples’ awareness of the
disease by providing information about and
helping them get admitted to hospitals in a timely fashion for treatment to
avoid severe consequences.-VNA