VietNamNet Bridge – Health experts confirmed that the E.coli bacteria, which causes digestive bleeding and kidney failure, has not yet been detected in Viet Nam.

The disease has thus far hit 2,000 people in Europe, claiming the lives of 22, since the beginning of last month.

Health experts warned residents to remain vigilant and only eat well-cooked food in order to prevent the disease.

The Ha Noi Department of Health called on authorised bodies to tighten supervision on visitors entering the country via Noi Bai International Airport and to isolate those with high temperatures and diarrhoea.

The city's Preventative Medicine Department has instructed clinics to supervise and deal with infected cases while food safety agencies act to ensure proper hygiene in food trading and catering.

Deputy Director of the HCM City Department of Health Le Truong Giang confirmed that HCM City received the highest number of foreign visitors, especially from Europe.

"Although we banned all European food suspected of contamination, we are still worried that the bacteria could spread," he said.

The Department has sent a list of typical disease symptoms, including high temperatures, vomiting, diarrhoea with blood, colitis, digestive bleeding and kidney failure, to hospitals and clinics in order to assist in the on time detection of the disease.

The director of the Health Ministry's Preventative Medicine Department, Nguyen Van Binh, said that some strains of E.coli still existed in waste, pond and lake water as well as in vegetables throughout Viet Nam, but that they were not too harmful, only causing digestive disorders and diarrhoea.

"We are awaiting the World Health Organisation's confirmation to conclude if the strain is similar to that in Europe or not," Binh said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) in Viet Nam has not yet issued any warnings regarding the disease to hospitals and clinics in the country, Phung Thu Phuong, the body's communication officer, told Viet Nam News yesterday, June 10.

Contaminated EU avocados were discovered in Thailand on Thursday. The Thai Ministry of Health is currently checking if it is the same deadly strain as the one in Europe, according to Bangkok Post.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News