On November 27, the Center for Disease Control of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province announced that it had just recorded a death due to rabies in the area.
The patient is Ms. V.T.T.D (born in 1971, residing in Ba Ria City). Previously, on November 20, Ms. D had symptoms of fever, sore throat, fatigue but still went to work as usual. At around 2:00 p.m. on November 23, Ms. D felt short of breath so her family took her to the emergency room at Ba Ria Hospital, admitted but the cause has not been found.
On the morning of November 24, the patient's family asked to transfer the patient to the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, then the patient was transferred to Cho Ray Hospital; then transferred to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City with a diagnosis of non-specific rabies, and samples were taken for PCR testing of rabies virus.
At around 10pm on November 24, the patient's family asked to be taken to Ba Ria Hospital for further treatment, with a diagnosis of rabies and acute myocarditis. However, at 1:30am on November 25, the patient's condition worsened, so the family asked to be taken home, and the patient died shortly thereafter.
Test results from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City showed that the patient was positive for rabies virus.
The epidemiological investigation showed that since the end of May 2024, Ms. D was scratched by a cat, causing minor bleeding, but she subjectively did not get a rabies vaccine.
The cat that scratched Ms. D was a domestic cat, and also bit another person on the leg, causing a lot of bleeding. This person is currently in stable health and was vaccinated against rabies on November 25. When the cat scratched and bit the person, it had just given birth to 3 kittens, which were then beaten to death and destroyed; the whereabouts of the 3 kittens are unknown.
