Regarding information that some countries have recorded cases of Nipah virus (NiV), on January 26, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) said that Nipah virus is currently appearing in India, while Vietnam has not recorded cases of the disease. However, the Ho Chi Minh City health sector has been and is strengthening the supervision of entry cases, especially people returning from epidemic areas.
Accordingly, medical control at international border gates is tightened to detect cases of fever early or signs of suspected dangerous infectious diseases to promptly isolate and handle them right at the border gate. In which, the medical force focuses on monitoring entry people from epidemic-prone areas.
HCDC recommends that passengers returning from an epidemic area if they experience suspicious symptoms such as fever, headache within 3-14 days, accompanied by respiratory signs such as cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, should immediately contact a medical facility for timely consultation and treatment.
Currently, there is no preventive vaccine or specific treatment for the Nipah virus. To prevent the risk of infection, HCDC recommends that people regularly wash their hands with soap and clean water; avoid contact with sick bats or pigs; avoid places where bats often reside; do not contact blood or bodily fluids of people identified as NiV-infected.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nipah virus is a disease transmitted from animals to humans, which can be transmitted through contaminated food or directly transmitted from humans to humans.
Humans can be infected with NiV when they come into direct contact with pathogenic animals such as bats, pigs; consume food contaminated with body fluids of sick animals (such as palm sap or fruit contaminated by bats) or come into close contact with NiV-infected people through breathing droplets, urine or blood.
The incubation period of NiV is usually from 4-14 days. Initial symptoms may be mild or severe, commonly fever, headache lasting from 3-14 days, accompanied by respiratory manifestations such as cough, sore throat, shortness of breath.
In the stage of severe complications, the patient may have encephalitis with symptoms of drowsiness, disorientation, mental disorders and may quickly fall into a coma within 24-48 hours.
The mortality rate from the Nipah virus is recorded to range from 40-75%. In addition, some survivors after NiV infection may have long-term sequelae such as prolonged convulsions and personality changes.
