Health ministry advises people to stay vigilant against influenza A/H5N1
VGP - The Ministry of Health has advised people to take precautions to proactively prevent the spread of influenza A/H5N1, a highly virulent strain of influenza from poultry to humans.
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The advise was made in in the wake of two infection cases in 2023 and 2024.
Accordingly, people should not eat sick and dead poultry or poultry products and poultry with unknown origin. They are advised to eat cooked food and drink boiled water as well as wash their hands with soap before eating.
People should not slaughter, transport, buy or sell poultry and poultry products of unknown origin.
When discovering sick or dead poultry, they should not slaughter and use it, and must immediately notify the local authorities and veterinary unit in the area.
People should avoid direct contact with wild birds and observe wild birds only from a distance slaughter, and eating of wild animals, especially birds.
When people have flu symptoms such as fever, cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing related to poultry, they must immediately go to a medical facility for timely consultation, examination and treatment.
The MoH reported that the latest case is a 21-year-old student in the province’s Ninh Hoa Town. He suffered a fever, and cough on March 11. The patient self-medicated but his symptoms didn’t abate. Therefore, he came to the local medical clinic for treatment on March 16 and 17 where he was diagnosed with pneumonia. He was later transferred to the province’s General Hospital for further treatment.
Khanh Hoa Center for Disease Control on March 19 took patient samples for testing. According to test results on March 20, the patient tested positive for influenza A/H5 which was once again confirmed by Nha Trang Pasteur Institute on March 22 that the patient tested positive for influenza A/H5N1. Due to the student’s illness development, the patient died on March 23.
Close contacts with patients are listed and their health is monitored daily but no new cases have so far been detected.
The ministry reported that no case of this dangerous disease in humans in the country was recorded for many years.
A/H5N1 is a highly virulent strain of influenza, and infected people often develop severe illnesses and die at a high rate of up to 50 percent.
Since 2003 Viet Nam has documented 128 A/H5N1 human infections, including 65 deaths./.
