Medical news August 14: Consecutive cases of mass food poisoning
The Vinh Long Provincial Department of Health has directed relevant units to urgently deploy admission and treatment for patients and organize investigation and handling of the food poisoning case at Bohsing Company Limited.
Consecutive cases of mass food poisoning
According to the report, by the afternoon of August 13, the Department of Health received the results of patient admission and treatment activities and organized an investigation and handling of suspected food poisoning at Bohsing Company Limited (address: Lot A2, National Highway 1A, Hoa Phu Industrial Park, Phuoc Hoa Hamlet, Hoa Phu Commune, Long Ho District, Vinh Long Province), with 181 patients.
Initial information, in the afternoon of the same day, Hoa Phu Regional General Hospital (Hoa Phu commune, Long Ho district) received emergency treatment for more than 100 workers of Bohsing Company with symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea...
Currently, the health of the patients being treated is stable, including 173 inpatients and 10 outpatients.
The Department of Health has directed the Food Safety and Hygiene Department to coordinate with the Long Ho District Medical Center to conduct an epidemiological investigation and collect food samples to find the cause.
In Dong Thap province, the Director of the Dong Thap Food Safety and Hygiene Department has provided initial information about suspected food poisoning cases occurring at Thai Duong Company Limited (headquartered in An Loc ward, Hong Ngu city).
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Initial information, the company has a contract with Hong Ngoc 12 bread production and business establishment, buying and selling meat sandwiches every day for employees to eat during overtime.
On the afternoon of August 6, the bakery staff delivered 33 meat sandwiches to the company and 30 people ate dinner. The next morning, Hong Ngu Regional General Hospital admitted 11 patients with clinical symptoms such as: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea...
As of August 12, the number of suspected food poisoning cases according to statistics was more than 140 people (including workers and outsiders) hospitalized at 6 medical facilities in Dong Thap province.
After being examined and treated by medical staff, the health of the above cases has stabilized. 44 patients have been discharged from the hospital and 4 patients have requested to be transferred to Dong Thap General Hospital, their health is stable.
Hong Ngoc 12 Bread Production Facility has been temporarily suspended. Authorities have taken samples of specimens and food to send to testing units to find the cause.
Also regarding food poisoning, information from the Department of Health of Quang Ninh province said that authorities are investigating the cause of the incident in which many tourists showed signs of poisoning after consuming food at the accommodation facility and had to be hospitalized for treatment.
Accordingly, on August 10, a group of 750 tourists from Hanoi went to Ha Long City for tourism and stayed at Muong Thanh Luxury Hotel, had dinner the same day and breakfast on August 11 at the hotel.
Afterwards, many people in the group had stomachaches and diarrhea, of which 16 people had severe symptoms and were taken to Bai Chay Hospital (Ha Long City) for emergency treatment.
Immediately after the incident, the Quang Ninh Department of Health directed Bai Chay Hospital to concentrate human resources and medicine to treat patients, and at the same time inspect the implementation of food safety regulations at the above meal supply facility.
According to the Quang Ninh Department of Health, after receiving treatment, the health of most of the hospitalized tourists has stabilized, with only two people still being cared for and monitored.
Local authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the incident to handle it according to regulations.
To strengthen measures to ensure food safety and limit the occurrence of poisoning incidents, Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen suggested that local authorities should pay attention to food safety management in the area, including strengthening and allocating adequate human resources and funding.
In particular, localities must direct strict control of the origin of agricultural raw materials, focusing on the group of facilities that have been granted certificates of food safety eligibility.
Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen also requested that the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Industry and Trade strengthen control of agricultural products as well as products in the assigned management areas according to regulations.
The Management Boards of industrial parks and export processing zones require enterprises, factories, workshops, etc. to resolutely not sign contracts with facilities that do not meet food safety conditions or do not have a certificate of food safety eligibility as prescribed.
In addition, there must be no situation where establishments take advantage of having food safety certificates issued by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Industry and Trade as prescribed but collect floating materials of unknown origin to supply to collective kitchens of companies, industrial parks, and export processing zones.
Strengthening propaganda work, raising awareness, changing people's habits in choosing safe food, not using food of unknown origin and source also needs to be promoted.
Increasing trend of measles, whooping cough, chicken pox
The Ministry of Health said that infectious diseases are still basically under control. However, in the general context of the world, Vietnam has recorded sporadic cases of diseases, outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, chickenpox... and the trend is starting to increase in some localities.
To prevent infectious diseases, the Ministry of Health has developed and implemented programs, plans, and guidelines to ensure vaccine supply in the Expanded Immunization Program.
At the same time, it is required to strengthen monitoring, take samples for testing, and early detect cases of disease and outbreaks in the community and medical facilities; proactively assess risks, analyze the situation to promptly deploy measures to handle outbreaks and organize vaccination campaigns against the epidemic.
For vaccine-preventable diseases (measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, etc.), accelerate the implementation of the 2024 vaccination plan, carry out regular vaccination for subjects; organize catch-up vaccinations and catch-up vaccinations for cases that have not been fully vaccinated, etc.
Regarding the diphtheria epidemic and the recommendation for the Thanh Hoa Provincial Department of Health to supplement 25,000 doses of diphtheria vaccine, the Ministry of Health said that the health sector ensures enough vaccines and drugs to vaccinate high-risk subjects with diphtheria as proposed.
With the measles epidemic being serious in Ho Chi Minh City, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health has requested units to immediately deploy solutions to increase community immunity such as: vaccination, catch-up vaccination for children; vaccination for medical staff, relatives taking care of patients at 3 Children's Hospitals and the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases. In addition, it is necessary to protect children in high-risk groups, because if this group gets measles, it can easily lead to death.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health requested the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Inspectorate and the special task force to proactively detect “anti-vaccine” individuals to clarify and strictly handle false propaganda in the community.
Meanwhile, some groups on social networks have appeared with the service of faking expanded vaccination records. Most of these posts share information that children should not be vaccinated. Some accounts also receive updates on expanded vaccinations for children to enter school, study abroad, do not need to be vaccinated, and pay after completing...
Vietnam is in the "top 15" with the highest rate of adult men smoking.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), smoking is the leading cause of death.
Cigarette smoke contains 69 substances that cause cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease and reproductive health effects for both men and women. Tobacco use causes 8 million deaths each year worldwide.
In Vietnam, despite many efforts and initial results in preventing and combating the harmful effects of tobacco, Vietnam is still one of the 15 countries with the highest rate of adult men smoking in the world and ranks 3rd in the ASEAN region.
Recent figures released by the General Statistics Office show that tobacco consumption in Vietnam is starting to increase again. From 2022 to 2023, total production output increased by more than 10%.
According to the Ministry of Health, because tobacco taxes and prices in Vietnam are currently very low, people and children can still easily access and buy cigarettes.
From 2008 to 2019, Vietnam increased the special consumption tax on tobacco three times, but the increase each time was low, only 5%, and the time interval between tax increases was quite long.
Specifically, in 2008, the tax rate increased from 55% to 65%. Eight years later, in 2016, it increased from 65% to 70% and in 2019, it increased from 70% to 75%. Although the special consumption tax rate is 75%, the total tax on retail prices only accounts for 38.8%.
Therefore, Vietnam is among the countries with the lowest tax and cigarette prices in the world, lower than the average of ASEAN countries. The cigarette market in Vietnam has about 40 brands priced under 10,000 VND/pack.
Therefore, the Ministry of Health proposes that, in order to achieve the goal of reducing the rate of tobacco and the tax rate as recommended by WHO as set out in the National Strategy on Tobacco Harm Prevention and Control to 2030, the absolute tax rate must reach 15,000 VND/pack (20 cigarettes/pack) by 2030 in addition to the tax rate of 75%.
This option would help achieve a tax rate of 65% of retail prices, close to the WHO recommendation (70-75% of retail prices) and help reduce the tobacco use rate among men to 36% by 2030.
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