In recent days, the number of children hospitalized with measles has continuously increased. Human resources, medical equipment, and disease prevention in infection departments to care for pediatric patients have also been maximized. The most worrying thing for infection specialists is the high rate of children who have not been vaccinated against measles being hospitalized in severe condition.
According to Dr. Du Tuan Quy, Head of the Department of Neurological Infections, Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, the majority of cases when admitted to the hospital were positive for measles. When surveyed, it was found that the measles epidemic was truly widespread, and When asked, people do not vaccinate children. Many parents also shared their sincere opinions, such as the economic downturn and having to go to work. Parents sent their children to their grandparents to take care of them, so they also forgot about the issue of vaccination for their children.
At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City is mainly made up of immigrants from other provinces who rent rooms to make a living, so communication with immigrants is not effective. It is not until a child gets measles that they realize they have not been vaccinated.
It is also noted that at Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City, the measles epidemic is still increasing every day. At the Department of Medical Examination, when children with symptoms of illness are discovered, they are isolated and assessed to see if their condition should be hospitalized or not, because experts are also worried about cross-infection of measles in the hospital. the hospital and the community very quickly.
MSc. Doctor Nguyen Dinh Qui - Deputy Head of Infection Department - Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City said that measles is not a new infectious disease, if not old, but is still toxic and strong enough to cause major epidemics. when vaccination and other preventive measures are not warranted.
Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, 90% of adults in their 20s had been infected with measles because of its ability to spread extremely quickly and over a long period of time, and the Ro of infection coefficient of measles was very high, from 12 - 18 (meaning that every 1 sick person can infect 12 - 18 other people), much higher than the Ro index of COVID-19 which is 2 - 5.
Signs that parents can recognize to suspect their child has measles include continuous high fever, rash from the back of the neck, ears spreading to the face, chest, abdomen, back and ending on the limbs. During the recovery phase, the skin rash will gradually darken, creating "tiger skin"-like marks. The areas that appear first will darken first. In addition, other symptoms include cough, runny nose, and "watery" eyes (watery eyes, discharge, red eyes).
The disease course lasts 7 - 14 days with the infectious period from 1 - 2 days before symptoms appear until 4 days after the rash appears.
Faced with the rapidly progressing and dangerous measles epidemic, Ho Chi Minh City has officially announced a measles epidemic occurring on a citywide scale. Accordingly, the city assigned the Director of the Department of Health to preside over and coordinate with the Steering Committee for epidemic prevention and control of districts and Thu Duc city to deploy epidemic prevention and control measures in the management area. Ensure implementation of prescribed measles prevention and control measures.
