According to the Ministry of Health, for diseases that do not have vaccines to prevent such as hand, foot, and mouth disease and dengue fever, experts recommend regularly washing hands with soap and disinfecting classrooms, especially toys and surfaces. Contact surfaces such as floors, tables, bed nets, regularly clean and rinse water containers….
As for diseases that have vaccines, the epidemic situation is showing warning signs when from the beginning of the year until now, the country has recorded 130 cases of measles, an increase of 1.4 times compared to the same period in 2023. Whooping cough recorded 118 cases, an increase of 6.8 times over the same period. The reason is that many children are not vaccinated on schedule or have not received enough vaccinations, causing the vaccination rate to not reach the immunity threshold to protect the community.
2024 is a year in the 4-5 year cycle of measles outbreaks. Experts say that without adequate vaccination measures, there will be a risk of a strong outbreak of measles. Around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) also recently issued a warning about the increasing number of measles cases and the risk of measles outbreaks in many areas around the globe.
Be wary of summer epidemics
Prof. Dr. Phan Trong Lan, Director of the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, said that to prevent disease outbreaks, this April, localities need to deploy measles vaccination for children aged 9 months and older. measles – rubella vaccine for children from 18 months old; Vaccinate children and pregnant women against whooping cough when enough vaccine is supplied to localities.
“For the Ministry of Health, measles is complete, it is recommended to fully review children who do not have enough vaccinations to be vaccinated immediately and this the Ministry has directed. As for the whooping cough vaccine, which is part of the 5-in-1 vaccine, this April will arrive in sufficient quantity to vaccinate and has also instructed the provinces to review the subjects and will plan to vaccinate as soon as the vaccines arrive. How to detect the first cases early to detect, treat and thoroughly localize and not let the epidemic spread”, Professor. Phan Trong Lan said.
Regarding diseases transmitted from bird flu, from the beginning of the year until now, Vietnam has recorded 1 case of death due to influenza A/H5N1 and 1 case of infection with influenza A/H9N2. Analysis by experts shows that controlling sources of disease in animals requires coordination between many sectors and units, especially the agricultural sector.
Pediatric patients increase dramatically in the summer
Mr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Ministry of Health, said that although this is the first time our country has a patient with the A/H9 influenza strain, it is a low virulence strain that usually causes mild symptoms and does not cause symptoms. causing mass deaths of poultry. The ability to infect humans is still limited. Those at risk of serious illness are people with weak resistance and there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.
“The risk of an epidemic is low. Genetic mutations and virulence changes have not been warned by the World Health Organization and no cases have occurred, so the risk is very low. We are not confused but also not subjective in the issue of bird flu prevention and control. This is also the first time Vietnam has had a case of H9 influenza infection. In bird flu, H5N1 is highly virulent, with a mortality rate of up to 50%, while most other strains such as H9 and H7 cause low virulence and low symptoms,” Mr. Hoang Minh Duc said.
To control summer epidemics, the Ministry of Health requires medical facilities to perform well the work of admitting, treating, and resuscitating patients, controlling infections and preventing and combating cross-infection in medical facilities. disease, treatment; Closely coordinate with the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute to analyze the situation and assess risks to promptly deploy anti-epidemic measures, helping to control the epidemic early.
