VietNamNet Bridge - The Institute of Hematology - Blood Transfusion has received nine patients from Tan Yen district, the northern province of Bac Giang, who suffered from non-stop subcutaneous hemorrhage and stump bleeding. Doctors suspected that this due to rat poison.

A child patient from Cao Thuong town.

A couple and their daughter from Cao Thuong township, Tan Yen district were admitted to the Institute of Hematology - Blood Transfusion twice in one month because of non-stop bleeding. Their families do not have blood-related hereditary diseases.

The next morning, the man went to the Institute of Hematology - Blood Transfusion. Doctors determined that he suffered from coagulopathy due to lack of clotting factors and these factors depend on vitamin K. The cause might be food poisoning. After receiving vitamin K, the wound stopped bleeding.

"At that time, both I and my daughter had blood tests and the results were normal. However, three months later, I continued with the illness. When bathing, I accidentally scratched my skin. After several days, the scratch kept bleeding," said the wife, named Lieu.

In October, their 6-year-old daughter suffered from non-stopped tooth bleeding. They took the child to the hospital. Ever five minutes, the kid spit blood from her mouth. After nearly a month of treatment, she was discharged from the hospital but only four days later she was hospitalized against because of blood in the urine and nosebleeds.

Another patient is Ngoc Ha, 6, from Nha Nam commune, Tan Yen district, a relative with Lieu. Recently, seeing Ha’s two bruised knees and that one leg could not move, Hanh, the mother, took the kid to the hospital. After 4-5 days of receiving vitamin K, Ha could go again.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai, Head of the Hemophilia Ward, said that the hospital had received about 20 patients with the same symptoms, including nine from the same place – Cao Thuong town, Tan Yen district in Bac Giang province. They are relatives or neighbors.

“The patients lacked clotting factors dependent on vitamin K. Normally, these factors only reduce when people take special medicines to cure severe hepatic impairment," Mai said.

She said that the victims were poisoned by an anti-vitamin substance, which may come from rat poison. To eliminate the disease, the source of poison must be found

A group of leading doctors on blood transfusion and anti-poison visited the homes of patients in Bac Giang to find out the cause. They also collected blood samples of the family members for testing. The case has been reported to the Health Ministry.

Another group of experts will go to Bac Giang to train local health workers on early detection of the disease.

Thu Ly