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| Mosquito spraying has been a prime measure to prevent Zika spread in Vietnam. Photo: Hien Cu/Thanh Nien |
Vietnam steps up Zika surveillance after Korean visitor infected
The Ministry of Health has beefed up surveillance to prevent a possible Zika outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City's District 7, where a South Korean had stayed for 20 days and was diagnosed with the virus when she returned home.
The patient is reported to work at the Korea International School at No. 21 Tan Phu, District 7, Ho Chi Minh City and stayed at an apartment building in Phu My Hung urban area in the district from April 10 to April 30. According to the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, the 25-year-old woman got a rash on April 28 after being bitten by mosquitoes. She returned to the RoK on May 1 and tested positive on May 7 when she visited the Catholic University of Korea Incheon St. Mary's hospital in the western city of Incheon, three days after she went to a local hospital with rashes and joint pain. The woman is suspected of being bitten by mosquitoes in Vietnam and contracting the virus, which has an incubation period of three to 12 days, as the country found one of two Zika cases in Thanh My Loi commune, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City in early April. The Vietnamese health ministry said it would monitor the school and apartment and find out if anyone was in close contact with her and confirmed it would work with its Korean counterpart to investigated the incident. The ministry has directed the HCM City's Pasteur Institute and Department of Health to inspect the case while implementing anti-disease measures where the patient worked and lived. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, the main vector of the virus, is very common in Vietnam. It is also known for carrying the dengue, yellow fever and chikungunya viruses. Vietnam reported its first two Zika patients last month, a 64-year-old woman in Nha Trang and a 33-year-old woman in HCMC. The latter was then eight weeks pregnant but underwent an abortion after the ultrasound scan reportedly did not detect the fetal heartbeat. No further infections have been reported since. Zika was first detected in Africa in 1947 and has been considered a relatively mild disease until the current outbreak started in Brazil in May 2015. The disease has since spread to more than 60 countries and territories, including many in Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and South Korea. Brazil, Venezuela and Columbia have each reported three deaths linked to the Zika virus. Brazil has reported nearly 5,000 confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly associated with Zika, Reuters reported. People are warned to take measures to protect themselves from mosquito bites and spray chemicals to eliminate mosquitoes and larvae. People coming and going from Zika-hit regions need to keep an eye on their health for 12 days after leaving the region. If there are any disease symptoms, the patients should report to health workers to receive examination and treatment, the ministry said.
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