From May 12 to 18, Hai Duong province recorded 63 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, an increase of 35 cases compared to the previous week. Most of the patients are children under 5 years old. While measles tends to decrease thanks to favorable weather conditions and a synchronous vaccination campaign, the hand, foot and mouth disease increase rapidly, becoming a major concern for families with young children.
Hot weather interspersed with heavy rain creates favorable conditions for the virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease to develop and spread in the community, especially in young people with weak resistance and not yet fully vaccinated. Currently, there is no vaccine to prevent the disease and it is easy to outbreak if not well controlled.
At Hai Duong Children's Hospital, the number of children hospitalized due to hand, foot and mouth disease has increased rapidly, on average 20-25 children come to the hospital every day with suspected symptoms. The Department of Infectious Diseases is treating about 30-40 children as inpatients. Many cases of hospitalization due to prolonged home treatment have caused complications.
In addition to hand, foot and mouth disease, Hai Duong also recorded a cluster of chickenpox cases at An Phuong Primary School, Thanh Ha District with 13 students with the disease, all of whom had not been vaccinated. Authorities have coordinated to isolate, handle outbreaks and increase vaccination propaganda.
Although the number of measles cases has decreased, many children are still hospitalized with severe developments such as pneumonia, middle ear inflammation, respiratory failure. Currently, the Department of Infectious Diseases of Children's Hospital is treating 20 children with measles, most of whom have not been vaccinated enough.
The health sector believes that the reduction in measles cases is due to the weather having passed the favorable period for the virus to spread and the disease vaccination campaign being effectively implemented.
The provincial health sector recommends that parents should closely monitor their children's health and not be subjective when they have signs of mild fever, mouth ulcers, and blisters. When suspicious, take the child to a medical facility for timely examination and treatment, avoid prolonged self-treatment at home that causes dangerous complications. At the same time, fully implement the vaccination schedule according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health to prevent dangerous infectious diseases.
