The first case was T.H.L.D (4 years old), who was suddenly bitten by a dog from the bushes, causing a lot of bleeding, broken teeth and tear in the eyelids. The child had to be treated at 3 hospitals including Ba Ria, Tropical Disease and Pediatrics 1 before being injected with anti-rabies serum and continued to receive intensive treatment.
Specialist Doctor II Nguyen Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the City Children's Hospital, said that the hospital has just received a child T.H.T.A (2 years old) bitten by a dog. While playing, the dog pulls the dog's tail strongly, causing the animal to react and bite into the upper lip and the front ear, causing bleeding. The child received initial first aid at the health station and was then transferred to the hospital.
Here, doctors stopped the bleeding, washed the wound, injected anti-rabies serum around the bite, injected rabies vaccine and used antibiotics. After 2 days of treatment, the child's condition improved, he continued to be monitored and given enough vaccination.
Doctor Tien emphasized: Even if domestic dogs have been vaccinated against rabies, children are still at risk of getting sick if bitten. Rabies after outbreak has a mortality rate of almost 100%".
According to the Pasteur Institute of Ho Chi Minh City, in 2025, the number of rabies cases in the southern region will not increase, but the circulation area has changed, from the Mekong Delta to the Eastern provinces. The number of rabies outbreaks in many localities has increased, showing that the rabies virus is circulating at a high level in dogs and cats.
MSc. Dr. Luong Chan Quang, Head of the Department of Disease Control and Prevention, Pasteur Institute, Ho Chi Minh City, warned that the risk of rabies will increase if people bitten by dogs and cats are treated incorrectly. The recorded deaths all have in common the lack of vaccination or insufficient doses.
Many common mistakes still occur such as: not giving first aid to wounds; applying leaves, garlic, and chili to "taking out worms"; covering wounds that make them susceptible to infection; or arbitrarily stopping vaccination because they think domestic dogs are safe.
You need to wash the wound right under a clean water pipe running continuously with soap for 10-15 minutes, disinfect with alcohol or iodine, apply a clean patch of bananas and go to a medical facility as soon as possible, Dr. Quang recommended.
