Ngọc minh 0936008318 - ID: emyeuanh8347tm Ha Noi

Ngọc minh 0936008318 - ID: emyeuanh8347tm Ha Noi

Chickenpox rages in Vietnam

The incidence of chickenpox has spurted recently, hospitals in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and the Mekong Delta region report, mainly among children.

Doctor Bui Vu Huy from the Central Pediatrics Hospital in Hanoi said the worst-hit areas in the north were the capital city and provinces like Ha Tay, Bac Giang, and Hung Yen. In Saint Paul, another Hanoi hospital, children with chickenpox made up 10 percent of all child patients last week. Huy said most of the patients in hospitals had serious symptoms like dense, itching blisters and skin infections since parents did not know how to care for their infected children. Nguyen Thanh Hung, deputy head of the Ho Chi Minh City Pediatrics Hospital No. 1, said the number of infections had increased by 20 percent in February. Over 200 cases had come for treatment in the last two weeks, he said. The Pediatrics Hospital No. 2 said around 100 children had been hospitalized in the last fortnight. In the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang too the disease is spreading with dozens of people infected in the last 10 days. The local health department said with the weather turning warmer a chickenpox epidemic was imminent. Residents are being asked to take a vaccine shot but since it costs VND300,000 (US$19) few people, especially in rural areas, can afford it. Doctors forecast incidence to double in March, the peak season for the disease in Vietnam. Chickenpox is a highly contagious disease characterized by a rash of small itching blisters on the skin and mild fever. It spreads by direct contact with a patient or through the air from an infected person. Source: Nguoi Lao Dong – Translated by Tuong Nhi