VietNamNet Bridge – 96 people have contracted A/H1N1 influenza since early this year, including one fatal case, said Dr Tran Thanh Duong, Deputy Chief of the Health Ministry’s Preventative Medicine and Environment Department, on February 8.

Photo: VOV

So far, the infection has spread to eight provinces and cities, namely Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Giang, Long An, Tay Ninh, Dong Nai, Lang Son and Khanh Hoa.

In the meantime, reports by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and Pasteur Institute show no new cases of A/H5N1 virus infection in the past week.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on February 2 that one more person in Egypt had contracted the A/H5N1 virus. The male patient, seven years old, was admitted to the hospital on January 10, bringing the number of A/H5N1-infected cases to three.

Since 2003, 519 people in 15 countries around the world have been infected by the deadly virus, with a total of 306 deaths.

* Cold weather puts many in hospital

Many hospitals in HCM City recently have seen a rising number of patient admissions for respiratory and digestive disorders as well as dengue fever.

On Monday, the city's Paediatric Hospital No2 was crowded with children waiting for check-ups at 7 am.

The city hospital's Blood Testing Office admitted 300 children for blood tests on the same day, the hospital's Dr Nguyen Thi Ut said.

She added that most of them had digestive problems, pneumonia, bronchitis or asthma, largely caused by cooler weather.

Many children were not brought to the hospital in a timely fashion because it was considered bad luck during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.

A large number of patients also visited the city's Paediatric Hospital No1 for check-ups.

Most of them came from the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta, according to the hospital's doctors.

Dr Nguyen Dac Tho, deputy head of the city's Preventive Health Centre, told the reporter of Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper that the number of dengue fever cases had risen.

Most of them were in the districts of 1, 4, 7, Binh Tan, Tan Phu, Binh Chanh and Thu Duc.

Nearly 300 patients had been admitted with dengue fever each week, Tho said. One of them died.

Nguyen Van Vinh Chau, deputy head of the city Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said the hospital was treating more than 50 patients with dengue fever and the number of children with the disease had risen dramatically.

At Paediatric Hospital No2, nearly 50 children were treated for dengue fever on Monday.

The hospital also gave rabies vaccinations to around 20 people who had been bitten by dogs.

VNN/VOV/VNS