VietNamNet Bridge – The General Hospital of Quang Ngai Province, in central Vietnam, has received nearly 50 people who got an unknown disease. The local health department has asked for the Ministry of Health’s assistance.
According to the Quang Ngai Department of Health, nearly 50 local residents were reported to contract the disease from April 19 to May 24. One of them died of viscera failure. The Quang Ngai General Hospital early this week received two more patients.

The common symptoms include ulcerates in mouth, thick scales on sole of the foot and palm which look like scalds.

Doctors of the Quang Ngai General Hospital said that the two new patients are a father, 59, and his son, 24, from Ba To district. The two patients have the above symptoms. Tests show that they have anemia and kidney failure.

Doctors said that this disease causes skin wounds, caused by contamination. They said that patients were highly possibly infected with a strange type of virus. Most of the patients came from Ba Dien commune in the mountainous district of Ba To. Local people are very afraid of the disease.

In late April, four patients (2 adults, 2 kids) were transferred to the Central Dermatology Hospital in Hanoi for treatment. However, even central hospitals are unable to define the disease.

In late 2010, two children of 10 and 12 years old in Ba Dien commune were treated at the Quang Ngai General Hospital for the same disease. The 12-year-old patient died while the younger was quickly rescued after experiencing blood filtering at a hospital in Da Nang city.

Quang Ngai has asked the Ministry of Health to send experts to Ba To district to investigate the disease.

Dam De