First A/H1N1 case at HCM City school
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Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu (first from the left) visits an A/H1N1 patient in Hanoi. |
Three teachers and 19 students at Ngo Thoi Nhiem private high school in District 9, HCM City were diagnosed with the A/H1N1 flu on July 19. This is the largest outbreak of swine flu in a single location in Vietnam, said the HCM City Health Department.
Besides the 22 confirmed cases, the high school has nine students with flu symptoms who are waiting for test results.
HCM City Health Department’s representative said that a male student met a relative in the southern province of Dong Nai who had returned from the US with the flu. The student returned to the school on July 13 with symptoms of the flu.
Ngo Thoi Nhiem is a boarding school for high school students from HCM City and neighbouring provinces. At the time the above student returned to the school, there were over 150 students and teachers there.
The school will close for two weeks and during this time, all 900 students and teachers at the school have been advised to keep an eye on their health at home. Students and teachers who had direct contact with the first infected student were provided with Tamiflu.
A total of 31 patients tested positive for the A/H1N1 flu on July 19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in Vietnam to 383 by 5 pm on the same day.
The Head of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Environment under the Ministry of Health, Nguyen Huy Nga, said 299 patients have been released from hospitals and no fatalities have been reported so far.
Currently, the remaining 84 patients are in isolation for medical treatment. They are in stable condition, showing no serious symptoms.
The Health Ministry has warned people to stay alert against the complicated developments of the epidemic.
The ministry cautioned that some cases of A/H1N1 were discovered at land border gates and the up-coming reopening of schools for the next academic year might give the virus chances to spread.
Nguyen Huy Nga affirmed that the Health Ministry has closely coordinated with all localities, ministries and sectors across the country, as well as countries and international organisations to keep a close watch on the epidemic situation to mitigate its impact on Vietnam.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), as of July 18, 139 countries and territories all over the world had reported 130,733 cases of A/H1N1 flu, 702 of which were fatal.
Source:vietnamnet.vn
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