The National Children’s Hospital has received more than 300 measles infected patients since the beginning of 2018, most of them have not been vaccinated (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - An unexpected spike in the number ofchildren catching measles in Hanoi this summer has left doctors worrying abouta potential outbreak, given that 90 percent of the infected children reportedlyhad yet to receive a vaccination.
Pham Thi Lanh from Bac Tu Liem district has spent the last fewdays in E Hospital, taking care of her nine-month-old baby, who is beingtreated for measles.
She was supposed to take him to receive a vaccination 15 days agoas the doctors recommended, but a fever coming along with the baby’s firsttooth delayed the plan.
Shortly after that, he fell seriously sick and was diagnosed withmeasles, she told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Lanh’s son was one of hundreds of babies and children hospitaliseddue to measles in the capital since May, who caught the disease after notgetting a vaccination.
A report by the Hanoi Centre for Preventive Medicine showed thatthere were 233 measles cases recorded as of July 10, tripling the number ofinfections last year. The disease was detected across the whole city withpatients coming from all 29 districts, though the density was higher in urbanareas. No deaths have been reported so far.
The centre’s director Nguyen Nhat Cam said that the infected weredisproportionately children under five, of which infants under 1 year old werethe largest group.
Doctor Do Thien Hai, Deputy Director of the National Hospital ofPaediatrics’ Department of Infectious Diseases, said that the measlesvaccination rate in Vietnam currently stands at 95 percent, meaning that 5percent are still unvaccinated every year.
“When the numbers [of unvaccinated children] accumulate enough, itis very easy for a measles outbreak to start,” he said.
“If the children fall sick during the scheduled time forvaccination, parents shouldn’t completely delay it but try to pick another timea little bit later for the vaccination.”
News of the increase in measles cases in Hanoi, meanwhile, drovemany parents in Ho Chi Minh City to have their toddlersvaccinated.
A 34-year-old mother in Phu Nhuan district said that her son wassupposed to have the double vaccination against measles and rubella at 18months old, but now he is already 3 and has yet to have the injection. Hearingabout what was happening in Hanoi, she planned to get him vaccinated as soon aspossible.
Another mother from Binh Thanh district also shared that sherecently took her 23-month-old baby to the health centre to have the secondvaccine injection for measles that she missed when he was 18 months old.
Measles is a highly contagious disease that can spread very fastand cause an outbreak. Measles is the leading cause of death in children and isparticularly dangerous to children under three.-VNS/VNA
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