Samples of blood and body fluids will be tested at Pasteur Institute. (Photo: VNA)
HCM City (VNA) – About 1,600 samples of blood and body fluids will be taken to test for the Zika virus in Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong from March 28 to April 8.
The Pasteur Institute and 30 hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and Lam Dong’s General Hospital No.1 and No.2 will collect blood and body fluids from people who have had symptoms similar Zika, including fever, rash, muscle pain, joint pain, headache and conjunctivitis, for five days.
The move aims to closely monitor suspected cases of Zika, after an Australian tourist tested positive for the virus upon his return from Vietnam .
During the Vietnam trip, the tourist went through Ho Chi Minh City, and Khanh Hoa, Lam Dong and Binh Thuan provinces.
On March 25, medical workers at hospitals received training on the collection, preservation and testing of the samples.
According to Doctor Luong Chan Quan, deputy head of the Department of Disease Prevention and Control at the Pasteur Institute, the plan is intended to detect the presence of Zika and timely measures could be adopted to prevent the outbreak of the disease.
The Pasteur Institute also worked with eight hospitals in northern provinces to detect Zika cases between February and March this year.-VNA
