VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Health has approved the H7N9 flu prevention plan in Vietnam, with four situations. Vietnam has not detected the presence of the virus in poultry and humans yet.

 

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long checks H7N9 flu prevention activities in the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases on April 6.

Accordingly, there are four scenarios: there is no case of H7N9 flu; there are H7N9 flu patients but the flu is not spread from human to human yet; the flu is spread from person to person, but in a narrow range or individual cases; the flu outbreaks in community.

In the first phase, the Ministry has asked the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City, and the Nha Trang Pasteur Institute to be ready to receive samples to diagnose H7N9 flu.

According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long, Chinese statistics show that the death rate is high. Patients are in all age groups; the youngest is a 4-year-old child; the oldest is an 87-year-old man; there are also patient of 27-28 years old. Thus, scientists as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) have raised many questions and concerns about this disease.

"To date they have not identified the source of disease transmission yet. Of the 16 H7N9 flu cases, there are five people in contact with poultry and pigs. Chinese experts also discovered doves with this flu strain, but they did not have any relation to the patients. Therefore, there are many different assumptions and experts are afraid of a pandemic," Deputy Minister Long says.

The characteristics of influenza A virus is often transforming into a new strain that can easily spread to humans. The world has recognized the influenza A (H7) epidemics with many cases of human mortality. There is no vaccine, no specific drug for this disease. The preventive measures are mainly based on personal hygiene and prevention of transmission in the community.

Late last week, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long also checked the H7N9 flu prevention activities in the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi, which will treat H7N9 flu patients, if needed. On April 9, the Ministry of Health will assess the plan.

According to Xinhua, the latest victim of the H7N9 flu virus is a man, 55 years old, in Anhui province, who was engaged in live poultry trading, bringing the total to 21 cases and 6 deaths.

Starting from the city of Shanghai, the influenza cases appeared in the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Many cities in eastern China have closed live poultry markets.

Le Ha