Many provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have increased cases of hand, foot and mouth disease.

SGGPO 06/25/2023 10:40

In Can Tho, Dong Thap, An Giang, Kien Giang ... the number of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases is increasing, some places exceeding the epidemic threshold.

Many provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta have increased cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, photo 1

Caring for children with TCM at Phu Quoc City Medical Center (Kien Giang province). Photo: QUOC BINH

On June 25, Can Tho Children's Hospital recorded 103 cases of HFMD being hospitalized. On average, there are about 25 cases hospitalized each day, about 40% of which are transferred from many localities such as Dong Thap, An Giang , Kien Giang. More worryingly, the number of severe cases has increased significantly compared to 2022. Specifically, since the beginning of the year, there have been 9 cases of grade 3 and grade 4; of which 5 cases had to be transferred to higher levels in Ho Chi Minh City, 2 cases of grade 4 died. Meanwhile, in the whole year of 2022, there were only 8 cases of grade 3 HFMD, with no deaths.

In Dong Thap, the provincial CDC has recorded 902 cases of hand and foot lice since the beginning of the year, including 1 death.

In An Giang, for about a month now, the number of HFMD cases has increased rapidly with 90 new cases per week, exceeding the epidemic forecast. Since the beginning of the year, An Giang province has recorded 600 HFMD cases, including 1 HFMD patient transferred from Dong Thap to An Giang who died.

Mr. Tran Quang Hien, Director of the Department of Health of An Giang province, said that currently, like many other localities, An Giang is mainly lacking in Immunoglobulin to support the treatment of severe TCM disease, and it is expected that the medicine will not be available until early July. The Department has requested medical units to review resources, strengthen treatment activities and reserve medicines, test reagents, equipment and medical supplies to ensure timely admission and treatment of TCM patients.

According to the CDC of Kien Giang province, although the number of TCM cases in the first 6 months of this year decreased compared to the same period in 2022 (299 cases compared to 304 cases), the number of severe cases increased, including 1 death. Localities with a high number of TCM cases include: Phu Quoc with 80 cases, Rach Gia with 50 cases, Ha Tien with 44 cases...

The Ministry of Health has also just issued a warning about the risk of TCM infection in adults because most of them do not have clinical symptoms, so it is easy to spread to children. Regarding the shortage of TCM treatment drugs, the Ministry said that the cause is due to the scarcity of imported sources, this situation will improve from the beginning of July.

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