According to the family of the first patient, Mr. Ha Van E (73 years old, in Duy Tien, Ha Nam ), was given a sick pig weighing about 50 kg by a neighbor. He slaughtered the pig and cooked it himself. After a day, Mr. E. had a headache, nausea, high fever and delirium. His family took him to Hung Ha Hospital ( Hung Yen ), where he was diagnosed with sepsis/multiple organ failure. Due to the severe progression, Mr. E was transferred to the Tropical Disease Center - Bach Mai Hospital for intensive care, high doses of antibiotics and comprehensive care. This is a typical case of meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis after having epidemiological factors such as contact with a sick and dead pig (during the slaughter of a sick pig) and eating pork containing bacteria.
The second patient, Dinh Van Kh (41 years old, in Hung Yen ), suffered from purulent meningitis caused by swine streptococcus after 9 days of eating duck blood pudding. According to his family, 9 days before being admitted to the hospital, the patient ate duck blood pudding bought at the market. One day later, the patient developed an unknown fever with headache and fatigue. The patient was taken to Pho Noi General Hospital (Hung Yen) for pain relief. When the symptoms became more severe, the patient was taken to the Tropical Disease Center - Bach Mai Hospital. With clinical experience and the results of cerebrospinal fluid culture for swine streptococcus, the doctors unanimously diagnosed: The patient suffered from meningitis caused by swine streptococcus after eating duck blood pudding.
Associate Professor, Dr. Do Duy Cuong, Director of the Center for Tropical Diseases, Bach Mai Hospital, said: Streptococcus suis is a disease transmitted from pigs to humans. Most cases are related to slaughtering, eating raw blood pudding or foods made from undercooked pork... Some restaurants now use pig blood mixed with blood from geese, ducks, goats, etc. to sell in stores, but when tested, the bacteria Streptococcus suis still appears. In addition, there are also some cases where patients do not eat raw blood pudding or slaughter pigs but still get sick, possibly due to eating infected pork, contact with infected pigs through skin lesions and scratches when preparing food.
The Tropical Disease Center of Bach Mai Hospital annually receives and treats dozens of cases of sepsis and meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis, admitted in severe condition with a mortality rate of up to 20-30%. If the patient survives, the rate of sequelae is also very high, commonly irreversible deafness.
Therefore, doctors recommend: Streptococcus suis can be completely destroyed when food is thoroughly cooked. Currently, there is no vaccine for this disease, so to prevent it, people should not slaughter sick or dead pigs. Gloves and protective equipment should be worn when handling raw or undercooked pork, and hands should be washed thoroughly after preparing meat. People should also give up unhealthy eating habits such as blood pudding (including pig blood pudding and blood puddings of goats, geese, and ducks). When symptoms of the disease appear, they should immediately go to a medical facility for timely detection and treatment.
News and photos: MAI THANH
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