VietNamNet Bridge – Doctors have warned of an early presence of meningitis and encephalitis in children this summer as the number of children hospitalised appears to be rising, said deputy head of the National Paediatrics Hospital's Transmitted Diseases Faculty Do Thien Hai.

The disease is occurring noticeably earlier than last year, according to Hai.

Hospital statistics said that nearly 100 children were hospitalised for treatment due to encephalitis and meningitis since the beginning of this year. Most of the patients came to the hospital in a coma and needed respiration machines for support due to the late stages of their disease.

Hai said that most of the meningitis patients, of whom many are under 6 years old, had either just been vaccinated or did not finish all of the vaccine shots.

Head of the Bach Mai Hospital's Paediatrics Faculty Nguyen Tien Dung said that the hot weather is a favourable condition for the two diseases' development and spreading.

Dung said that meningitis developed fast. Patients could rapidly be rendered unconscious and face fatal risks if they were not be treated as soon as possible.

He warned that parents should bring their children to a hospital when they have symptoms such as a fever, headache, nausea, convulsions, or problems of consciousness and coma.

Doctor also warned that parents should vaccinate their children against meningitis when they are two months old and against encephalitis when children are 12 months old for disease prevention.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News