Ministry warns about hand-foot-mouth disease rise

The possibility of an
outbreak is high in this weather when summer changes to autumn, accompanied by
rainfall, unless authorities and health offices take prompt preventive measures,
the Department of Preventive Medicine under the ministry warned.

In Hanoi over the last
week, 12 children were hospitalised for treatment of hand-foot-mouth disease,
while there were 121 cases reported in Ho Chi Minh City.

Associate Professor Tran Dac
Phu, Director of the Preventive Medicine Department, said hand-foot-mouth
disease is an acute viral infection transmitted by the digestive tract. The
disease is common in infants and likely to cause severe epidemics.

It is very contagious if
hygiene measures are not followed. In , the number of cases tends to
increase between March and May and from September to December.

The department’s statistics
showed that since the beginning of this year, there were 51,218 cases of
hand-foot-mouth cases nationwide, of which 23,272 patients were hospitalised.

The number of
hospitalisation cases increased by 3.4 percent against the same period last
year.

Interestingly, the number
of cases tended to increase in recent weeks, and was predicted to continue to
rise in the coming weeks when students returned to school, as this was also the
time for a change of season.

According to health
experts, the disease is most contagious in the first week after a patient is
infected and may last for several weeks due to the virus focal in the waste.
Signs of the disease are fever, sore throat, oral mucosal lesions and skin
mainly in the form of scalds commonly found on the palms, soles of the feet,
knees and buttocks.

Most cases are mild.
However, in some cases, the disease can be severe and dangerous complications
such as encephalitis, myocarditis and acute pulmonary edema that could lead to
death should be detected early to ensure timely treatment

The
mainly occurs in under the age of 10, and particularly in those under
five. The smaller the child is, the more serious the symptoms are.

All those who have not
suffered from the disease are at risk of infection when they come in contact
with infected instruments or surfaces, but not everyone who is infected with
the virus shows signs of the disease, Phu said.

Pregnant women should
especially avoid close contact with an infected person since the virus can be
transmitted to the baby either before birth or during childbirth. It is notable
that a person can be infected multiple times because every time he or she is
infected, the body produces antibodies to a specific virus. Therefore, even if
a person has been infected once, the disease can return if infected with
another virus belonging to the Enterovirus group.-VNA