At the Department of Infectious Diseases - Neurology, Children's Hospital 1 Ho Chi Minh City, the unit is treating many inpatient measles cases every day, most of whom are from other localities and have not been vaccinated against measles.
Recorded at the Department of Pediatrics, Thu Duc City Hospital, the number of measles cases tends to increase worryingly after the Lunar New Year 2025. In January 2025, the hospital received 137 cases of measles, including many hospitalizations for treatment. In particular, in just the first 10 days of February, there were 13 more measles cases.
According to Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Uyen Phuong - Department of Pediatrics, Thu Duc City Hospital, the weather conditions at the beginning of the year with cold and high humidity characteristics create an ideal environment for the virus to develop and survive. In addition, travel activities, family gatherings and festival participation during Tet have increased the risk of virus spread in the community.
Measles is an infectious disease that can spread quickly, especially dangerous in young children because it can cause many serious complications. Common complications include pneumonia, encephalitis cerebral, inflammation of the middle ear and intestinal infections.
In the face of the complicated epidemic situation, Thu Duc City Hospital has implemented many active response measures. The hospital has arranged separate isolation areas for children with measles, conducted disease orientation and increased protective measures for medical staff. At the same time, propaganda work on vaccination for patients' relatives has also been promoted.
Doctor Uyen Phuong recommends that parents pay special attention to the signs of the disease to be able to detect it early, take their children to medical facilities immediately for timely diagnosis and treatment, and avoid possible dangerous complications.
To proactively control and prevent the outbreak of measles in the coming time, close coordination is needed between the health sector and people in the community. In particular, raising people's awareness of disease prevention, especially ensuring adequate and timely vaccination for children, will be a key factor contributing to effectively deciding on disease prevention and health protection for children and the community.
According to Dr. Truong Huu Khanh - Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Infectious Diseases Association, to effectively prevent and reduce measles cases, adequate vaccination is a key measure. In addition, giving vaccines to children at risk of not being able to be vaccinated against measles.
According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, on February 3-9 (week 6, 2025), the city recorded 361 measles cases with addresses in the city, down 7.9% compared to the average of the previous 4 weeks. The total number of measles cases accumulated from the beginning of the epidemic to week 6 is 6,430 cases. Districts with high numbers of cases until week 6 include Binh Chanh district, Binh Tan district and Thu Duc city.
