VietNamNet Bridge – The rubella epidemic reached a high point last month, and may last until next month, said deputy director of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases Nguyen Hong Ha.

A doctor examines and treats a rubella patient at the National Tropical Diseases Hospital in Ha Noi. (Photo: VNS)

Nearly 1,000 people have had checks for rubella this year, three times more than the same period last year.

More than 100 were hospitalised, 95 from Ha Noi. The others were from nearby provinces. Five of the hospitalised patients suffered from encephalitis, a complication of rubella. Two of them are under special care.

Thirty five rubella patients were pregnant women.

Symptoms of the disease included high temperature, respiratory inflammation, coughing and rashes over much of the body.

Head of the hospital's virus and parasitology ward Doctor Nguyen Tien Lam said the fever was caused mainly by the rubella virus this year.

Normally, patients recovered after one week but the disease was dangerous for pregnant women.

"If women suffer from rubella in the first three months of their pregnancy, about 35-60 per cent of the new-borns will be hit by heart deformity, brain disease and mental retardation," Lam said.

High humidity in spring provided favourable conditions for the virus to develop and spread, he said.

Explaining the reason for the increase, hospital deputy head Ha said, "Many adults thought that because they had been vaccinated against the disease when they were young they would never suffer from it."

In fact, Ha said, the vaccination's effect decreased over time and if people are in contact with afflicted people, they can catch the disease.

"Adults don't need to be vaccinated again but they should be vigilant," Ha said.

The hospital is drafting a document to guide treatment for the disease to be sent to health institutions around the country so patients get proper advice and treatment, Ha said.

* HCM City fights to lower child obesity

Swift intervention measures will be taken to reduce the increasing rate of chronic diseases and obesity among children in HCM City, according to a healthcare official.

Do Thi Ngoc Diep, director of the HCM City Nutrition Centre, said 11.5 per cent of children under five in the city were obese or overweight, compared to 8.8 per cent in 2009.

In addition, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and some cancers have also increased rapidly, she said.

Speaking at a meeting yesterday, March 2, on city nutrition programmes, Diep said that inappropriate dietary intake, lack of physical activities and lifestyle habits were to blame for the increasing rates of diseases and obesity.

However, she said the malnutrition rate among children under five in the city had dropped to the country's lowest, 6.8 per cent.

This year, city authorities will earmark VND8.5 billion (US$405,000) for nutrition intervention programmes that will focus on malnutrition, obesity prevention and prevention of iodine and vitamin A deficiencies.

The aim this year is to cut the rate of obesity and overweight cases to below 11 per cent, and to have a malnutrition rate of no more than 6.8 per cent.

More than 70 per cent of households in the city have been targeted to use iodised salt, and more than 90 per cent of children between six and 36-months-old will be advised to take vitamin A.

Priorities will be given to children, pregnant women and women with under-five children in outlying areas as well as to workers in industrial parks and export processing zones.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News