Hand-foot-mouth disease spreads throughout Vietnam

Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFMD) is spreading throughout all 63 Vietnamese cities and provinces, getting more than 71,470 people affected, of whom 130 were dead, as of Monday, local Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper reported. While HFMD is expanding across the country, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health (MOH) has not yet declared it as an "epidemic" because it is still under "control", said the report. Nguyen Van Binh, director of MOH Preventive Medicines Department, said the disease is under control when there are about 2,000 newly affected cases per week, or 8,000-10,000 cases per month. However, in September alone, the country had more than 26,000 newly affected HFMD patients with 31 dead, and in the first half of October, the figures were reported at 10,000 and 16, respectively, said the report. So far, southern Ho Chi Minh City and central Quang Ngai province are the most hit localities. MOH will announce the epidemic nationally when there are at least two localities reporting that the disease is out of their control. The epidemic announcement will be made under two circumstances: first, when the number of affected patients is more than those estimated by the centrally-run medical agencies; secondly, when the disease develops out-of-control or when there appears some new agent that causes high fatal rate while there is not yet medicines for treatment, explained Binh. The HFMD, caused by the Enterovirus 71 (EV71), has such symptoms as fever, throat pain and vesicle on the hand palms and foot soles. The patient can recover after about one week. However, sometimes the disease is out of the doctor's control because it develops fast and leads to death, just within 24-72 hours when first symptoms are found. Patients are normally children under three years old, but by the end of September there were eight adults having tests with EV virus, who had taken care of the affected children, reported the Vietnam's central Nha Trang Pasteur Institute. Medical experts warned the disease would become more complicated in the coming months due to the lack of preventive vaccines and specific medicine for treatment. The disease is contaminated through the digestive system or direct contact, hence the rate of infection is high, especially now when there are adults affected by HFMD but they have no outside symptoms.