VietNamNet Bridge – The meningococcal meningitis epidemic has spread in five provinces and cities in Vietnam, including Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Long An, Binh Phuoc and Quang Tri, the Preventive Health Department under the Health Ministry reported.

Meningococcal meningitis is a bacterial form of meningitis, a serious infection of the meninges that affects the brain membrane. It can cause severe brain damage and is fatal in 50 percent of cases if untreated, according to the World Health Organization.

The bacteria can be carried in the throat and sometimes, for reasons not fully understood, can overwhelm the body's defenses, allowing infection to spread through the bloodstream to the brain, the WHO said.

After Tet (Lunar New Year), which fell on January 23, the number of patients in the five above localities has increased sharply and one of them, an 11-month-old baby in Quang Tri, has died, the department said.

At the Central Tropical Disease Hospital, the latest victim of the disease is Nghiem Duy B, 35, of Hanoi, who was hospitalized on January 27 in a coma, said Dr Nguyen Trung Cap, deputy head of the Intensive Care Unit.

B suffered from purulent meningitis that was likely caused by meningococcal meningitis, which is highly dangerous, since it could kill the patient rapidly and transmit to others easily through respiration, the doctor said.

After intensive treatment, B’s condition has improved, but he is still on a respirator, he added.

Several different bacteria can cause meningitis. Neisseria meningitidis is the one with the potential to cause large epidemics. Twelve serogroups of N. meningitidis have been identified, six of which (A, B, C, W135, X and Y) can cause epidemics, according to the WHO.

In Vietnam, the patients have been confirmed to have contracted A, B, C, and Y serogroups, doctors said.

Anybody who develops such symptoms as a sudden high fever, stiff neck, and excessive sensitivity to light should go to the hospital for examination and treatment, Tran Thanh Duong, deputy head of the department, advised.

Today, January 31, the department will set up a standby team of medical experts who will work around the clock to fight against the disease, and the heath authorities of localities where the disease has spread must also do the same, Duong said.

HCMC has 10 affected areas From January 20 to 30, the meningococcal meningitis epidemic has spread to six more areas in five districts, taking the total number of affected areas in the city to 10, the HCMC Preventive Health Department reported. The new outbreaks have been recorded in District 10 and Go Vap, Tan Phu, Binh Tan, and Cu Chi Districts, Dr Tran Phu Manh Sieu, director of the department, said. To date, 11 patients, all of them children, have been confirmed to suffer from the disease, he said. The department will notify all schools in the city about the spread of the disease and will educate teachers on the symptoms of the disease so that they can detect any outbreaks in time.

VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre