Recently, doctors at Bai Chay Hospital ( Quang Ninh ) saved the life of a Chinese man suffering from septicemia and meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis and biliary tract infection.
According to a report from the Hanoi Center for Disease Control (CDC), two cases of swine streptococcus have been recorded since the beginning of the year. The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases is also treating two patients with swine streptococcus, both in Nam Dinh .
According to Deputy Director of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases Nguyen Trung Cap, swine streptococcus is an acute infectious disease transmitted from animals to humans, mainly from pigs, and can be fatal. The cause of the disease is mainly due to patients eating undercooked pork products, such as: Blood pudding, sour sausage, fermented pork roll... Patients often have severe clinical symptoms, require long-term treatment, high treatment costs, and often leave irreversible complications after recovery. According to the warning of Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dac Phu, former Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine ( Ministry of Health ), this disease progresses very quickly, causing septic shock, coma, and multiple organ failure. People infected with swine streptococcus include 3 forms: sepsis, purulent meningitis, or a combination of both. Depending on the form, the disease progresses severely or mildly, with some cases having severe infections from the beginning.
Faced with the risk of increasing patients infected with swine streptococcus, the Department of Preventive Medicine has sent an official dispatch to the health departments of provinces and cities on the prevention and control of swine streptococcus infection to humans. The Ministry of Health stated that people often have the wrong view that pigs raised by families, wild pigs, and free-range pigs are clean, safe pigs and can eat blood pudding. However, in reality, swine streptococcus bacteria circulate in the pig population, so even home-raised pigs can still transmit the disease. Not only eating blood pudding, raw meat, raising or participating in slaughtering pigs, but also coming into contact with sick pigs, dead pigs without appropriate protective equipment also poses a risk of being infected with swine streptococcus through lesions and scratches on the skin. Therefore, the Department of Preventive Medicine also recommends that people do not eat products from uncooked pigs or from sick or dead pigs, especially do not eat pork blood pudding. In addition, protective measures such as gloves and masks should be taken by those who raise, come into contact with, slaughter, and trade livestock. Medical experts also recommend that the best way to avoid streptococcal infection is to prevent the disease. There is currently no vaccine to prevent the disease, but treatment is with long-term antibiotics combined with blood filtration, respiratory support, and circulation.
To proactively prevent and control the spread of Streptococcus suis to humans, the Department of Preventive Medicine recommends that provincial and municipal health departments direct their affiliated units to strengthen monitoring, early detection of suspected cases of Streptococcus suis infection in humans, and promptly implement measures to handle outbreaks. The Department of Preventive Medicine also notes that medical examination and treatment facilities should pay special attention to cases of patients with symptoms of suspected Streptococcus suis infection, exploit epidemiological history and take samples for testing and timely treatment of patients to avoid deaths and notify the disease control center to investigate and handle outbreaks. The Department of Preventive Medicine also recommends that local health departments closely coordinate with veterinary agencies in monitoring and detecting diseases in pig herds that are favorable for Streptococcus suis outbreaks such as blue ear disease, thereby promptly sharing information to take measures to prevent the risk of infection to humans.
DIEP CHAU
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