A/H1N1 flu patients are being treated at Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – A person with theinfluenza virus A/H1N1 recently died after two days of treatment at the Cho RayHospital in Ho Chi Minh City, becoming the second fatality of swine flu at thehospital and the third in the city.
The male patient, 46, was hospitalised withsevere respiratory failure and pneumonia. He was obese and in need of breathingmachine aids.
Le Quoc Hung, head of the hospital’sdepartment for tropical diseases, said it is currently treating seven A/H1N1 victims,three of whom are in severe condition and need breathing machines.
From June 11, the hospital has received atleast 24 patients infected with the virus, two of whom have died, increasingthe total number of A/H1N1-related fatalities in HCM City from the beginning of2018 to three. Doctors said A/H1N1 deaths occur among people with obesity andother chronic diseases like diabetes and kidney failure.
Hung said this was the start of the rainyseason and also the peak of the flu season so the appearance of the A/H1N1 fluwas understandable.
The recent return of the influenza virus inHCM City has worried many people, but health experts insist that an epidemic isunlikely. They say if people get vaccinated, the chances of them falling illare low.
Head of HCM City Pasteur Institute PhanTrong Lan said the number of A/H1N1 patients was higher than previous yearsbecause of lower vaccination rates. At present, the vaccination rate againstinfluenza was less than one percent of Vietnam’s population.
He said patients suffering from A/H1N1 fluand seasonal flu would normally recover after a week. However, he warned thatpregnant women, infants and young children under two years old and old peopleover 65 were among the groups at elevated risks of complications arising fromflu.
Complications could be fatal without timelytreatment, Lan said.
Doctor Truong Huu Khanh from HCM CityChildren’s Hospital 1 said A/H1N1 flu was infectious but fatalities only happento those who had weak immune systems.
Tests showed that this is the old type ofthe H1N1 virus that broke out worldwide in 2009 and vaccinations against thevirus are successful, according to Khanh. It could only cause an epidemic if anew type of virus appeared with a modified structure, he said.-VNA
VNA
