Health expert warns the current season is the time for the outbreak of hand-foot and mouth disease in children (File Photo)Hanoi (VNA) -The Ministry of Health has issued a warning that the current season, whenstudents gather for the new school year, is the time when the number of hand-foot-mouthdisease cases among children is on the rise.
The possibility of anoutbreak is high in this weather when summer changes to autumn, accompanied byrainfall, unless authorities and health offices take prompt preventive measures,the Department of Preventive Medicine under the ministry warned.
In Hanoi over the lastweek, 12 children were hospitalised for treatment of hand-foot-mouth disease,while there were 121 cases reported in Ho Chi Minh City.
Associate Professor Tran DacPhu, Director of the Preventive Medicine Department, said hand-foot-mouthdisease is an acute viral infection transmitted by the digestive tract. Thedisease is common in infants and likely to cause severe epidemics.
It is very contagious ifhygiene measures are not followed. In Vietnam, the number of cases tends toincrease between March and May and from September to December.
The department’s statisticsshowed that since the beginning of this year, there were 51,218 cases ofhand-foot-mouth cases nationwide, of which 23,272 patients were hospitalised.
The number ofhospitalisation cases increased by 3.4 percent against the same period lastyear.
Interestingly, the numberof cases tended to increase in recent weeks, and was predicted to continue torise in the coming weeks when students returned to school, as this was also thetime for a change of season.
According to healthexperts, the disease is most contagious in the first week after a patient isinfected and may last for several weeks due to the virus focal in the waste.Signs of the disease are fever, sore throat, oral mucosal lesions and skinmainly in the form of scalds commonly found on the palms, soles of the feet,knees and buttocks.
Most cases are mild.However, in some cases, the disease can be severe and dangerous complicationssuch as encephalitis, myocarditis and acute pulmonary edema that could lead todeath should be detected early to ensure timely treatment
The hand-foot-mouth diseasemainly occurs in children under the age of 10, and particularly in those underfive. The smaller the child is, the more serious the symptoms are.
All those who have notsuffered from the disease are at risk of infection when they come in contactwith infected instruments or surfaces, but not everyone who is infected withthe virus shows signs of the disease, Phu said.
Pregnant women shouldespecially avoid close contact with an infected person since the virus can betransmitted to the baby either before birth or during childbirth. It is notablethat a person can be infected multiple times because every time he or she isinfected, the body produces antibodies to a specific virus. Therefore, even ifa person has been infected once, the disease can return if infected withanother virus belonging to the Enterovirus group.-VNA
The possibility of anoutbreak is high in this weather when summer changes to autumn, accompanied byrainfall, unless authorities and health offices take prompt preventive measures,the Department of Preventive Medicine under the ministry warned.
In Hanoi over the lastweek, 12 children were hospitalised for treatment of hand-foot-mouth disease,while there were 121 cases reported in Ho Chi Minh City.
Associate Professor Tran DacPhu, Director of the Preventive Medicine Department, said hand-foot-mouthdisease is an acute viral infection transmitted by the digestive tract. Thedisease is common in infants and likely to cause severe epidemics.
It is very contagious ifhygiene measures are not followed. In Vietnam, the number of cases tends toincrease between March and May and from September to December.
The department’s statisticsshowed that since the beginning of this year, there were 51,218 cases ofhand-foot-mouth cases nationwide, of which 23,272 patients were hospitalised.
The number ofhospitalisation cases increased by 3.4 percent against the same period lastyear.
Interestingly, the numberof cases tended to increase in recent weeks, and was predicted to continue torise in the coming weeks when students returned to school, as this was also thetime for a change of season.
According to healthexperts, the disease is most contagious in the first week after a patient isinfected and may last for several weeks due to the virus focal in the waste.Signs of the disease are fever, sore throat, oral mucosal lesions and skinmainly in the form of scalds commonly found on the palms, soles of the feet,knees and buttocks.
Most cases are mild.However, in some cases, the disease can be severe and dangerous complicationssuch as encephalitis, myocarditis and acute pulmonary edema that could lead todeath should be detected early to ensure timely treatment
The hand-foot-mouth diseasemainly occurs in children under the age of 10, and particularly in those underfive. The smaller the child is, the more serious the symptoms are.
All those who have notsuffered from the disease are at risk of infection when they come in contactwith infected instruments or surfaces, but not everyone who is infected withthe virus shows signs of the disease, Phu said.
Pregnant women shouldespecially avoid close contact with an infected person since the virus can betransmitted to the baby either before birth or during childbirth. It is notablethat a person can be infected multiple times because every time he or she isinfected, the body produces antibodies to a specific virus. Therefore, even ifa person has been infected once, the disease can return if infected withanother virus belonging to the Enterovirus group.-VNA
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