Off the wire
• India, U.S. to jointly launch satellite to study quakes, volcanoes  • Blood discovery could lead to new Alzheimer's diagnosis: New Zealand scientists  • Central bank measures cool overheating New Zealand housing market: study  • Weed invasion prompts tougher New Zealand border controls on seeds  • Spanish couple attacked in western India  • Profile: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  • Chinese fertilizer company to set up Australian operation  • Commentary: FM's Myanmar visit indicative of China's undaunted resolve, readiness to renew bilateral friendship  • Myanmar draws nearly 9 bln USD foreign investment in FY 2015-16  • Clearing up paramilitary activity key to Colombian peace process: rebel leader  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: Health official warns more Zika infections in Vietnam after 1st cases detected

Xinhua, April 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Vietnamese health official on Tuesday warned more Zika infections in Vietnam after the country detected the first two cases.

Nguyen Thanh Long, deputy minister of health, made the remark on Tuesday at a press conference held by the ministry in Vietnam's capital Hanoi.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday reported the country's first two cases of infecting Zika virus in southern Khanh Hoa province and Ho Chi Minh City.

According to Long, as Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are the main vector of the Zika virus, are popular in Vietnam. "It is forecast in the coming time, there will be more Zika infected cases in other provinces across Vietnam," Long said.

The official urged the media to promptly inform local citizens to fight the disease.

"The most effective prevention measure against the virus is to prevent from being bitten by mosquitoes and to kill mosquito larvae," Long told reporters, saying that each citizen and each family must do it themselves to fight Zika virus and dengue fever.

The ministry has raised the alert to Level 2 in the action plan of preventing and combating the Zika virus in Vietnam, which was issued by the MOH in early 2016, in order to promptly and thoroughly handle the outbreak, minimize the spread of the disease, according to the official.

All localities nationwide are urged to implement activities to prevent and fight the virus, Long said, adding that on Tuesday morning, in Khanh Hoa province and Ho Chi Minh city, two localities reporting first cases of Zika virus, all necessary measures have been carried out to block the outbreak.

However, the official said the Vietnamese MOH does not restrict traveling of local citizens. It is expected that tourism, traveling and business activities of localities across Vietnam will not be affected, Long said.

The health official recommended that pregnant women, who intend to travel to Zika-affected areas, should consider it carefully.

Zika is known as a virus that spreads through bites from Aedes aegypti mosquito. It is particularly risky for pregnant women as the virus is thought to be linked to a rare birth defect, microcephaly, which causes newborn babies to have unusually small, damaged brain.

At the conference, the MOH reported the country's first two cases of infecting Zika virus in southern Khanh Hoa province and Ho Chi Minh City.

The first patient is a 64 year-old woman living in Khanh Hoa's Nha Trang city. She got fever on March 26 with symptoms of mild fever, headache, rash in two legs and pinkeye.

After two days of self-treatment at home, she was not better and went to Khanh Hoa Hospital of Tropical Diseases.

On March 31, test results in Nha Trang Pasteur Institute showed that the patient is positive with Zika virus.

The test sample was later transferred to be tested again in the Hanoi-based National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).

The NIHE's test result on Monday showed that the female patient is positive with the disease.

Meanwhile, the second case is a 33 year-old woman in the country's southern Ho Chi Minh City's District Two. The patient started getting ill on March 29 with similar symptoms of typhus, conjunctivitis and fatigue.

The patient went to General Hospital of District Two on the same day. Two consecutive test results showed that she was infected with the Zika virus.

Later, the NIHE's test result on Monday also showed that the female patient is positive with the disease.

The MOH on March 23 decided to raise alert level for Zika virus in the country after the World Health Organization announced that Australia has identified a case of Zika infection after a person returned from Vietnam.

This person came to Vietnam on Feb. 26 and left Vietnam for Australia on March 6, the General Department of Preventive Medicine under MOH said on its website.

On March 8, the Australian citizen showed symptoms of Zika infection, including fever, rash, headache, muscle aches, conjunctivitis, nausea. The person traveled to southern Ho Chi Minh City, Central Highlands Lam Dong Province, central coastal Khanh Hoa Province and southern Binh Thuan Province in Vietnam. Endit