Vietnam ’s preventive health chief warned that the A/H1N1 flu is beginning to spread to the community and is now posing a serious threat of a larger outbreak, especially since many of the infected show unclear clinical symptoms of the disease.

Nguyen Huy Nga, Director of the Ministry of Health’s Department for Preventive Health, issued the warning at a meeting of the National Steering Committee for Combating Avian Influenza in Humans in Hanoi on July 22.

The health official also pointed to the need to continue monitoring those found to be infected who entered the country by air and via land borders in addition to stepping up monitoring of the infected living in the community, so that effective measures can be promptly taken to mitigate the effects of the disease.

According to Dr. Nguyen Tran Hien, Director of the Central Epidemiology Institute, no A/H1N1 outbreak has yet been detected in communities in the north.

He also pointed to the fact that all A/H1N1 patients in Vietnam have had, to greater and lesser degrees, some connection with passengers entering the country, so epidemiological and viral research should be conducted as soon as possible to help specialists gain deeper insight into the disease, its mechanisms of infection, and the possibility of drug resistance as well as mutation when the virus combines with other flues.

The Central Epidemiology Institute will organise training courses for local health workers in methods to identify the A/H1N1 virus to enable them to respond quickly to the disease as it spreads further.

The World Health Organisation has provided Vietnam with 500 A/H1N1 quick test kits.

On the day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued decision 1073/QD-TTG that grants free treatment to A/H1N1 patients and allowances to those who are part of the force fighting against the disease./.