Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen emphasised at a Hanoi conference on April 22 evaluating the ongoing outbreak of the disease.
During the event, representatives of the ministry’s agencies and local departments in the northern region were provided with guidelines to diagnose and treat measles.
Xuyen pointed out that the major reason behind the current outbreak in Vietnam is the poor vaccination, along with the humid weather conditions that allow respiratory diseases to spread quickly.
She warned that parents bringing their sick children to some central hospitals, especially the National Hospital of Pediatrics, has worsened the risk of the disease spreading, because inter-infection among children is high.
The ministry has closely overseen the implementation of preventive and treatment measures, especially for children, reducing measles complications and easing the overload at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, she said.
Meanwhile, Tran Dac Phu, director of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Health Ministry noted that since the beginning of this year, the number of measles cases across the country has risen to 3,481. The disease has spread to 61 out of the country’s 63 cities and provinces. Of the 119 deaths caused by measles complications, 25 were directly by the disease.
He underscored that no mutation in the strain of the measles virus has been detected. Most of the fatalities resulted from pneumonia connected to measles, he added.
He proposed that closer coordination should be forged between localities and the departments, so that no measles case goes undiagnosed.
Nguyen Van Kinh, director of the Central Hospital of Tropical Diseases, stressed that there is no specific remedy for measles, only supportive treatment methods.
Therefore, the guidelines on how to diagnose and treat the contagious disease should be promoted at all local hospitals and healthcare centres to ensure only patients with serious complications are sent to central hospitals, he said. Kinh also emphasised the importance of isolating measles patients to prevent the disease from spreading further.-VNA
During the event, representatives of the ministry’s agencies and local departments in the northern region were provided with guidelines to diagnose and treat measles.
Xuyen pointed out that the major reason behind the current outbreak in Vietnam is the poor vaccination, along with the humid weather conditions that allow respiratory diseases to spread quickly.
She warned that parents bringing their sick children to some central hospitals, especially the National Hospital of Pediatrics, has worsened the risk of the disease spreading, because inter-infection among children is high.
The ministry has closely overseen the implementation of preventive and treatment measures, especially for children, reducing measles complications and easing the overload at the National Hospital of Pediatrics, she said.
Meanwhile, Tran Dac Phu, director of the Preventive Medicine Department under the Health Ministry noted that since the beginning of this year, the number of measles cases across the country has risen to 3,481. The disease has spread to 61 out of the country’s 63 cities and provinces. Of the 119 deaths caused by measles complications, 25 were directly by the disease.
He underscored that no mutation in the strain of the measles virus has been detected. Most of the fatalities resulted from pneumonia connected to measles, he added.
He proposed that closer coordination should be forged between localities and the departments, so that no measles case goes undiagnosed.
Nguyen Van Kinh, director of the Central Hospital of Tropical Diseases, stressed that there is no specific remedy for measles, only supportive treatment methods.
Therefore, the guidelines on how to diagnose and treat the contagious disease should be promoted at all local hospitals and healthcare centres to ensure only patients with serious complications are sent to central hospitals, he said. Kinh also emphasised the importance of isolating measles patients to prevent the disease from spreading further.-VNA
