A woman has Whitmore's disease
Accordingly, Thanh Hoa Province reported two patients but there has been no case of Whitmore in their neighborhood before.
The first case was a 15-year-old boy from Nghi Son town, who was transferred to the National Children's Hospital on the 12th day of illness, after being treated at the local hospital.
When the boy was admitted to the hospital, the patient was in a very serious condition, with lung damage, and respiratory failure, and he still had a hemorrhagic rash on both hands; therefore, he was put on mechanical ventilation. Doctors diagnosed him to have septic shock and multi-organ failure, Whitmore. According to the statement of the boy’s relatives, before the onset of the above symptoms, the child came home from school and was soaked in rainwater. After that, the baby had a high fever for four consecutive days, a cough, a rash with pain in the right chest, and abdominal pain; consequently, he was rushed to the local hospital’s emergency room.
The second case is a 10-year-old boy from Nong Cong District, starting with a fever, red swelling over the parotid. He was treated at a local hospital for 20 days but his illness didn’t abate. After that, the child was transferred to a provincial hospital for treatment for nearly 30 days, but the lesions were still inflamed and oozing pus, and a large painful lump appeared behind the ear. At the beginning of November, the patient was transferred to the National Children's Hospital, the results of the pus culture showed that the baby was infected with the bacteria that caused Whitmore's disease.
A 40-year-old woman in Dak Lak Province becomes the third victim of the bacteria. She suffered abdominal pain symptoms since mid-October and underwent surgery at the Central Highlands General Hospital to treat a spleen abscess. Half a month later, she relapsed and had to return to the hospital for further tests. This time, she was diagnosed to have Whitmore's disease on the background of type 2 diabetes.
Following the unusual development of Whitmore's disease, the Department of Preventive Medicine asked the departments of Health in Thanh Hoa and Dak Lak provinces to strengthen the prevention of Whitmore's disease.
To lower the risk of infection in areas where the disease is widespread, the Ministry of Health recommended that people should keep personal hygiene well by regularly washing their hands with soap and clean water, especially before and after preparing food, after going to the toilet, after handling soil before eating. People are advised to avoid contact with soil and standing water, especially if they have open wounds or other risk factors. Moreover, people should wear boots and gloves to protect themselves during outdoor activities or in soil and mud.
