VietNamNet Bridge - The death of a child with the hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) a few days ago has taken the toll among children in Ho Chi Minh City to 20.

So far this year, 25 children with HFMD died at the Pediatrics Hospital I, said Dr Truong Huu Khanh, head of the Infectious Diseases Department of the hospital.

The death toll at the Pediatrics Hospital II and the Tropical Diseases Hospital are 17 and 4 respectively.

Of the total 46 dead children, 20 are from HCMC.

From July 7 to 13, the city had 620 children infected by the disease.

The pandemic is developing complicatedly, Dr Khanh said.

Currently, the number of children treated for HFMD at the Pediatrics Hospital I is 170 per day on average, he said.

On July 14, a child from the southern province of An Giang died at the hospital.

On July 15, a 12-month-old Khmer child was hospitalized in critical condition.

Meanwhile, the Pediatrics II Hospital receives 60 new cases every day. Two died of the disease last week, a doctor said.

In general, the epidemic had slightly slowed down compared to previous periods but it was hard to predict in the coming time, especially when preschools start their new school year next month, Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy head of the HCMC Preventive Health Center, said.  
 
Since a few days ago, many preschools in the city, especially in District 8, have closed due to the outbreaks of HFMD.

Trieu Tuan, head of the District 8 Education and Training Department, said some 10 children had contracted the disease in the last month.

From now until August 20, about 30 state-owned preschools in the district may have to be closed due to the spread of disease, he said.

The Ministry of Education and Training had ordered educational agencies to take necessary measures to contain and prevent the disease, he said.

It said when two students in a class contract the disease, the class had to be closed for 10 days.

Severe hand-foot-mouth epidemic in country  

Nguyen Van Binh, chief of the Preventive Medicine Department in Ho Chi Minh City warned of a severe epidemic as 17,000 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease have been reported in the country, with South Vietnam reporting 13,600 cases alone.  

Moreover, 90 percent of the afflicted patients have succumbed to the disease. Binh blamed the outbreak to a new etiological agent, Enterovirus 71 (EV71) of the sub-genotype C4 which causes severe complications.

Meanwhile, the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City claimed that 50 out of 15,000 patients infected with hand-foot-mouth disease in South Vietnam have died this year, tripling the death toll from the same period last year.

Localities with the largest number of patients are Ho Chi Minh City, and the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An and Tien Giang.

The Ministry of Health and epidemiologists are alert on new developments of the virus and the disease. Any new developments will be reported immediately. Binh warned that more children may contract the disease as its peak infection time falls between the months of August till November.

Health inspection teams to contain epidemics  

Dr. Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Preventive Health Department in the Ministry of Health, announced yesterday the setting up of four inspection teams that will check and manage epidemic prevention in 12 major provinces and cities of the central and Southern regions.

The inspection teams will cooperate with Pasteur Institute and the Ho Chi Minh City Preventive Medicine Center.

According to the latest statistics, there are 21,200 reported cases of dengue fever with 21 reported deaths and 18,800 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease with 52 reported deaths across the country.

The infectious disease department of Children Hospital No.1 has reported 180 in-patients with hand-foot-mouth disease, 30 of whom are in serious condition and on ventilators. There was also one reported death in the southern province of An Giang.

Truong Huu Khanh, head of the above department said that the hospital admits approximately 80-90 new cases everyday, 50 percent of which are from other provinces. A similar situation prevails in Children Hospital No. 2.

According to Nguyen Dac Tho, director of HCMC Preventive Medicine Centre, in the first 6 months of 2011 there have been about 4,700 cases of hand-foot-mouth disease including 17 deaths. He also confirmed that the epidemic only petered off temporarily at the beginning of July. However, now more fresh outbreaks have re-occurred and medical workers battle to contain the disease.

Source: SGGP