A/H1N1 epidemic on humans likely to recur, says Health Ministry

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Health Ministry's Environment and Preventative Medicine Department has warned that the A/H1N1 epidemic on humans is at high risk of recurence due to the public’s poor awareness of the fatal disease.
Since the beginning of this year, four people have contracted A/H5N1 virus, causing one death. Over the weekend, the Environment and Preventative Medicine Department confirmed 2010’s first A/H5N1 patient in Hanoi.
Vietnam has so far declared 116 A/H1N1 cases in 38 provinces and cities nationwide with 58 deaths since the country detected its first case on December 25, 2003.
Dr Nguyen Huy Nga said that in remote areas, local people still slaughtered and ate meat from sick chickens. “This may cause the further spread of the disease,” he added.
The Environment and Preventative Medicine Department has asked people to strictly observe the measures to prevent another outbreak of the epidemic. The department also stressed the need to tighten control of poultry transport, trading and slaughtering activities. Suspected cases have also been advised to go to the hospital for medical check up and timely treatment.
Speaking at a recent national conference on bird flu prevention and control, Dr. Le Quynh Mai, head of the Virus Department of the National Institute for Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), raised her concerns of genetic mutation in H1N1 virus. “At least seven antigen groups have appeared in the bird fu virus since it arrived in Vietnam,” she said.
According to experts, the most effective measure to prevent the outbreak of the deadly disease is to promote information dissemination on the disease. However, there is the fact that the public awareness of the epidemic is still relatively low since the first occurrence of the epidemic seven years ago.
Medical experts said that recent research showed rapid changes of A/H5N1 virus that may develop into a new resistant strain, with a higher toxicity level and more resistance to medicine.
Dr. Nguyen Van Kinh, head of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that Vietnam’s tropical weather condition has created favourable conditions for the two virus trains, A/H1N1 and A/H5N1, to mutate into a new strain.
Pham Gia Lai, Deputy Director of the Thai Binh provincial Heath Department, said some hospitals at district level are unable to correctly diagnose A/h5N1 due to the limited professional skills of doctors and poor medical equipment.
Bui Thi Le Phi, Deputy Director of the Can Tho provincial Heath Department, said that local medical workers also face difficulties in separating A/H1N1 from A/H5N1 patients as they show similar symptoms. “Therefore,” she said, “it is essential to increase capacity for medical workers and consider this as an important measure against the epidemic.”