The Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed Viet Nam’s first microcephaly case likely related to the Zika virus.  





The link to the virus was confirmed by laboratory tests, said health officials.

The first suspected case of the Zika-linked brain defect syndrome microcephaly was reported on October 14 in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. It affected a four-month-old baby whose mother was affected by the virus when she was pregnant.

The local hospital took samples from the baby girl and her mother and sent them to Japan’s Nagasaki University for further tests.

The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology found after at least five rounds of tests that the 23-year-old mother expperienced Zika-like symptoms such as rash and high fever during the first and second trimesters of her pregnancy.

The Preventive Medicine Department has warned pregnant women to cancel non-essential travel to areas where the Zika virus is prevalent.

The disease is spread primarily by mosquitoes and the Health Ministry is urging people, particularly pregnant women, to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.

Ho Chi Minh City declares end of Zika virus at ward level

The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has declared the end of Zika virus outbreak at commune-ward level in Phuoc Long Ward, District 9.



Doctors give check-up to four-month-old baby suspected of Zika-related microcephaly in Dak Lak



However, the outbreak still remained in An Phu Ward in District 2, Hiep Thanh Ward in District 12 and Ward 8 in District 5.

On October 30, the municipal Communist Youth Union launched a campaign “Green Sunday” to clean the environment. The activity contributed to raising public awareness of keeping the clean environment, towards preventing diseases caused by the virus.

Locals have been asked to pay attention to intensifying environmental sanitation activities and killing mosquito larvae in residential areas in order to prevent new outbreaks from occurring.

The Health Ministry is urging people, particularly pregnant women, to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.

Zika is mainly transmitted through the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which also carries dengue fever. The virus has been linked to microcephaly, a condition that causes babies to be born with small heads, and in the vast majority of cases, brain damage.

A total of 11 Zika virus cases have been confirmed in the country so far, including that four-month-old baby in Dak Lak, who was confirmed Vietnam’s first microcephaly case likely related to the Zika virus.

Currently there is no vaccine or specific medicine to treat the disease.

VNA/VNS