Vietnam is in trouble. The myriad of diseases there have now risen to a fever pitch and it has really just started. The people there are up against the hard wall of poverty and necessity, and this in turn propagates the spread of disease as almost nowhere else in the world.
The recent denial of a cluster of human H5N1 cases in conjunction with the pandemic conference just held there, surely makes the truth run like water through your fingers. Understanding that no country wants to tell you how bad it really is, the denial does not diminish the threat. Now, with the beginning of this spring, at least 5 different diseases are breaking out and spreading thru out the Vietnam/Cambodian border areas.
As with China, it is easy to blame it all on the weather. In the tropical zones we are dealing with, weather can help spread some diseases like "dengue fever or malaria", However, most of the recent disease spread is due to carelessness and reckless intent.
H5N1, H1N1, Cholera, Dengue fever, measles and the pig disease "PRRS"otherwise known as blue eared disease, are now becoming widespread in Vietnam, especially on the "Nam/Cam" border.
According to recent reports from that area, a young man just died from H5N1 in Cambodia although there have been no recent reports of birds dying there. This should tell you what is really gooin on. Now an outbreak of Cholera is rapidly spreading on the border with Vietnam,who also is reporting cholera in the northern regions also.
Vietnam has expressed concern that the indigenous peoples are spreading it through poor sanitary practices, of which there are many. They also are condeming the well worn practice of throwing every dead creature into the canals and ponds and waterways, from which others gather their drinking and cooking water. Vietnam says they are worried this practice will help to spread the cholera outbreak.
In poorer sections of Southeast Asia, the populations eat just about anything. Whith the help of unscrupulous and uncaring farming practices, the risk of these type of diseases will continue to expand.
Recent reports I have translated from there, tell me that bird flu is still active in at least 3 provinces, including where the human cluster of cases were discovered.
Cholera is spreading through the waterways and canals in both the north and south of the country and now on the Nam/Cam border. Children and adults are swamping the hospitals with respiratory ailments, north and south.
.
Here are a couple of snips... "Dr. Le Thanh Hai, deputy hospital director, said the hospital each day over 1,200 children to receive medical examination and treatment, even on up to 2,000 children, mainly suffering from respiratory infections, diarrhea. In particular, many children with fever virus was taken to hospital in a state of fever up to 39-40 degrees, leading to convulsions".... "Several other hospitals in Hanoi as Paul Green, Bach Mai also fall into overload children to visit. Doctor Hoang Minh Thu, Head of Pediatrics, Hospital Paul Green said the department receives each day from 500 to 600 patients, including many children with high fever, accompanied by symptoms such as respiratory tract infections, headaches and fatigue.
Among the hospitalized children had no case be less family home should be treated with antibiotics while hospitalized children with diarrhea due to more side effects of antibiotics.
This time, many hospitals in the north have also received a lot of adult patients suffering from respiratory illness and fever virus. According to doctors, when adults have symptoms of viral fever, should alert to dengue fever and encephalitis because of dangerous complications such as paralysis, otitis, pneumonia can occur if not treated properly"..
Can you say with certanty what is happening there?
PRRS is killing the pigs and spreading at a fantastic rate. The farmers are not reporting these outbreaks and are unceromoniously dumping the remains on roadsides and canals and rivers EVERYWHERE in that country. The stench is becoming a common complaint, and now come reports of meat dealers and some farmers that are dealing these diseased pigs straight to the big cities and roadside stands. Some reports are decrying the fact that many meat suppliers are digging up the dead pigs and carving them up for consumption. This is probably not a good idea.
The recent visit by the WHO, U.S, and 70 other countries for the international Pandemic conference should have spent a little more time explaining how easy it is for these diseases to spread and perhaps put some money and time towards teaching better farming practices, instead of instructing countries on how to hide and deny outbreaks of disease.
You know me..I have the links for this commentary
No comments:
Post a Comment