Staff of Muong Lat District Medical Center (Thanh Hoa) provide free preventive antibiotics to residents of Doan Ket neighborhood, Muong Lat town - Photo: HA DONG
Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online on the morning of August 13, Ms. Ha Thi Phuc - Director of Muong Lat District Medical Center - said that by the afternoon of August 12, patient PLM treated for diphtheria at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases was eligible for discharge.
The patient has just returned home in Doan Ket neighborhood.
Currently, patient M. is limiting contact with people around him for 7 days; continuing to be monitored as an outpatient for 60 to 70 days, according to Decision No. 2957/QD-BYT dated July 10, 2020 of the Minister of Health on the diagnosis and treatment of diphtheria.
Apart from 3 patients with diphtheria from August 5 to 8, including patient M. who was just discharged from the hospital, so far in the mountainous, border district of Muong Lat, no new cases have been detected.
Muong Lat District Medical Center is continuing to investigate cases related to PLM patients according to patient epidemiological milestones as prescribed by the Ministry of Health.
Deploying epidemiological surveillance and investigation of new suspected cases in Pu Nhi commune, Muong Lat district.
According to Muong Lat District Medical Center, the risk of a diphtheria outbreak in Doan Ket neighborhood has an unknown source of infection, and there is a potential risk of a new outbreak in the community due to the characteristics of the district being a mountainous, border area, with ethnic minorities, economic difficulties, and a very low vaccination rate for many years with diphtheria-containing vaccines.
Therefore, Muong Lat District Medical Center requested Thanh Hoa Department of Health to provide Muong Lat district with 25,000 additional doses of tetanus-diphtheria vaccine to vaccinate at-risk and high-risk subjects in Muong Lat town and 3 neighboring communes: Quang Chieu, Tam Chung, Pu Nhi.
Provide additional funding for diphtheria prevention and control activities such as monitoring, on-call duty, sample collection, preservation and transportation of specimens; funding for purchasing antibiotics for prophylaxis in cases with epidemiological factors and close contact with patients; funding for purchasing tetanus-diphtheria vaccines and vaccination organization costs.
The patients were treated promptly.
As reported by Tuoi Tre Online , on August 5, Thanh Hoa's health sector recorded the first case of diphtheria in the province with an unknown source of infection.
The patient is Ms. PLM, 17 years old, 8 months pregnant, residing in Doan Ket area, Muong Lat town.
On August 8, two more relatives of Ms. M. contracted diphtheria and were transferred to the hospital for timely treatment.
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