Over 100 experts from the US, Japan, Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines convened in Hanoi on September 9 to discuss experiences in combating infectious diseases spread by virus from insects and animals in the Southeast Asian region

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien expressed her hope that the seminar would share helpful information on preventing infectious diseases spread by virus, discuss safe biological solutions to minimise their effects as well as develop new research and advanced technologies in an effort to combat diseases in the Southeast Asian region in particular and the world in general.

About 30 scientific reports identified the causes of the diseases, along with factors such as climate change and people’s hobbies which may hasten the spread of disease in the community, and warned about the occurrence of new and old diseases such as the SARS epidemic, A/H1N1 flu, malaria, petechial fever and allergy.

The seminar, jointly held by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Vietnam’s National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, lasts till September 10./.