So far, the capital city of Vietnam has reported 300 cases of measles, a year-on-year rise of 400 percent.
Director of Hanoi’s Department of Health Nguyen Nhat Cam said that through surveillance in 30 districts all having measles patient; most of them are in inner districts including Dong Da, Hoang Mai, Ha Dong and Bac Tu Liem.
Worse, 70 percent of measles patients are kids under five years old with high rate of toddlers below one. Most of measles kids are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.
Accordingly, medical experts warned of a possibility of an outbreak of measles in the capital city.
The Central Tropical Disease Hospital admitted more measles patients from northern provinces of Hung Yen, Nam Dinh, Thai Nguyen most of who are unvaccinated children.
Professor Bui Vu Huy, head of Pediatric Division of the hospital, said that of three serious kids in the division, 11-month-old twins are in critical condition. They are unvaccinated.
Upon the possible outbreak of measles, the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health warned unvaccinated children are vulnerable to the contagious disease caused by virus.
Measles patients may suffer from severe complications, such as glue ear, diarrhea, encephalitis and pneumonia, the most common cause of death from measles in young children.
To prevent the disease, parents should take their kids to nearby medical clinics for vaccination, said experts.
