On the morning of March 22, sharing on the sidelines of a conference on malaria, parasite and insect prevention, Dr. Hoang Dinh Canh, Director of the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology, said that most helminthic diseases in humans originate from domestic animals and wild animals.
Parasitic helminth diseases have caused many acute and long-term effects, affecting the physical and mental development of children, women of reproductive age and people's health.
Pets can be vectors of parasitic worms to humans.
Mr. Canh said that in 2022, from the drug aid source of the World Health Organization, the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology provided more than 13 million pills and safe deworming for 13 million primary school students, children from 24 to 60 months old, and women of reproductive age in 37 provinces and cities with high infection rates.
In addition, the Institute has investigated, examined, detected and treated tens of thousands of patients with large liver flukes, small liver flukes, lung flukes, pork tapeworm larvae, strongyloidiasis larvae, thorny-headed worm larvae, dog and cat roundworm larvae, etc. in the community and at the hospital.
According to the leader of the Central Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology, in some localities, people have the habit of eating raw fish, rare pork, rare beef, blood pudding, rare pork liver, grilled crab and uncooked aquatic vegetables. These are the causes of liver flukes, lung flukes, tapeworms, and pork tapeworm larvae.
Doctor Canh said that dogs, cats, birds... are intermediate hosts that transmit diseases to humans. Medical facilities have also recorded many cases of diseases from pets, of which dog roundworm and dog tapeworm parasites are the two most common parasites when raising dogs and cats. People who get sick are often accidental hosts, due to swallowing worm eggs in soil or water contaminated with dog and cat feces, or swallowing worm larvae when eating undercooked dog and cat meat.
Experts warn that the habit of eating raw meat and raw meat is the cause of liver fluke and lung fluke diseases.
However, experts also warn that not everyone infected with dog tapeworm or cat roundworm who goes to the doctor is diagnosed correctly, but is misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly for many years, causing the disease to become complicated. "People infected with dog and cat roundworm often have symptoms similar to many skin diseases such as: itching, rash, headache, abdominal pain, difficulty breathing... In the long term, they can have an enlarged liver, pneumonia, abdominal pain, eye damage, vision disorders... However, many people go to the doctor and find tumors in the liver and lungs and think it is cancer, so they do not treat it or treat it incorrectly," said Mr. Canh.
To prevent disease, people should clean up where dogs and cats lie every week. Dog and cat feces must be buried or put in bags and thrown in the trash. Dogs and cats should be dewormed regularly...
Eliminate malaria in Vietnam by 2030
At the conference, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong said that Vietnam has successfully controlled malaria and set a goal of eliminating malaria by 2030. In 2022, malaria was controlled, the number of malaria cases continued to decrease sharply compared to the same period in 2019 (down 90.2%), and 2020 (down 68%). The number of malaria cases nationwide in 2022 was 455 cases, 1 death, no malaria outbreak occurred. 42 provinces and centrally run cities were recognized as malaria-free.
However, according to the Ministry of Health, malaria is still complicated in some provinces such as Lai Chau, Gia Lai, Phu Yen , Dak Lak, Binh Thuan, due to the habit of going to the forest and sleeping in the fields. In addition, the exchange of travel, people returning from countries with malaria; drug-resistant malaria parasites; insect resistance to chemicals, low investment funds for malaria prevention and control... make malaria prevention and control work face many difficulties.
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