According to the Department of Disease Prevention (Ministry of Health), from the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025, the measles epidemic situation in the South is still showing signs of increasing compared to the same period - Photo: THU HIEN
According to statistics from southern hospitals, up to 90% of children hospitalized for measles have not been vaccinated for various reasons.
Many measles patients on ventilators
According to Tuoi Tre , on the morning of March 17, at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Neurology of Children's Hospital 1 (HCMC), 75 inpatient measles cases were being treated, including about 10 severe cases requiring ventilators and CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure, applied to patients with respiratory failure and still able to breathe). The number of outpatient examinations and treatments is 20-30 cases/day. Up to 90% of the pediatric patients were transferred from provinces such as Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Ben Tre, etc.
Ms. TP (39 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) brought her 6-year-old child to the hospital for examination because the child had a rash all over his body.
Ms. P. said that her child had a fever for 3 consecutive days that did not go away even though she bought medicine for her child to take. On the 4th day, seeing that her child continued to have a fever and had a rash all over her body, she took her child to the hospital, where the doctors quickly admitted the child.
Ms. P. said that her family has 3 children, the oldest of whom is over 10 years old, but none of them have been vaccinated against measles. The reason is because she is busy with work and when it is time for her children to be vaccinated, she forgets.
Speaking to Tuoi Tre, Dr. Du Tuan Quy, head of the infectious disease and neurology department at Children's Hospital 1, said that measles cases admitted to the hospital all had complications, the most common being pneumonia (about 80%), followed by enteritis, otitis media, and blood infection .
According to Dr. Quy, there are three main reasons why severe measles cases require hospitalization: children have not been vaccinated against measles, children are not old enough to be vaccinated but are infected by others, and parents do not let their children get vaccinated.
According to the report of the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control, in week 10 (from February 28 to March 6), 276 measles cases were recorded in Ho Chi Minh City, the total number of measles cases accumulated from the beginning of the epidemic (April 2024) to March 6 is 7,601 cases. Districts with high number of cases up to week 10 include Binh Chanh district, Binh Tan district and Thu Duc city.
According to Tuoi Tre, at Dong Nai Children's Hospital, the hospital is examining and treating more than 50 pediatric patients. Of these, 3 are being treated in the intensive care - anti-poison department, 4 are on NCPAP (a method of providing continuous positive airway pressure, helping to maintain open airways and improve gas exchange) and 7 are on oxygen.
In Hanoi, according to Mr. Cao Viet Tung - Deputy Director of the National Children's Hospital, measles cases have tended to increase from November 2024 to present. According to Mr. Tung, the challenge in managing measles cases is the large number of patients and the difficulty in triage.
At the same time, the number of inpatients is large, while the number of rooms is limited, leading to the limitation of standard isolation rooms. Meanwhile, controlling the interaction between patients and their families is difficult. The source of the disease can be transmitted from one person to another.
Mr. Tung also stated that measles continues to increase and become more complicated, so hospitals need to actively screen, detect and isolate cases, and manage exposure in hospitals. At the same time, strengthen monitoring, response, coordination, and support between medical facilities at all levels. Avoid overloading at higher levels.
Graphics: TAN DAT
Accelerating measles vaccination coverage
According to the Dong Nai Center for Disease Control, the reason for the persistent measles epidemic is that children were not fully vaccinated during the COVID-19 period and the interruption of vaccine supply (2021-2023) created an "immunity gap". In this situation, to create community immunity, from September to December 2024, Dong Nai organized additional vaccinations of 127,000 doses of vaccine for children aged 1-10 who had not received 2 doses of measles.
On February 24, Dong Nai continued to organize a measles vaccination campaign for about 9,700 children aged 6-9 months in the area. The campaign has currently vaccinated about 60% of children in this age group. Thanks to that, the measles epidemic is gradually "cooling down".
Mr. Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Disease Prevention (Ministry of Health), said that most measles patients were not vaccinated against measles or had unknown vaccination status (accounting for more than 95%).
According to Mr. Duc, the measles epidemic has a general tendency to decrease but has not stopped, so we need to be extremely careful, and many cases of rash fever suspected of measles will continue to be recorded in provinces and cities nationwide, especially in some mountainous provinces with many ethnic minorities, difficult access to medical services, and provinces with low measles vaccination rates.
According to Mr. Ha Anh Duc - Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, the Ministry of Health and other units have developed updated guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of measles to detect cases early and increase treatment effectiveness.
Including additional risk factors for severe disease progression in children under 12 months; people who have not been vaccinated or have not been fully vaccinated; people with congenital or acquired immunodeficiency ; severe underlying diseases; severe malnutrition; vitamin A deficiency and pregnant women.
To effectively prevent measles, the Ministry of Health will soon conduct training, provide professional guidance, inspect and supervise admission work, comply with treatment guidelines, and report epidemics.
At the same time, he directed the hospital's vaccination units to increase vaccination for those who are indicated for vaccination inside and outside the hospital. "Especially vaccinating those who need to be vaccinated at the hospital," Mr. Duc emphasized.
Vaccination campaign completed in March
Faced with the complicated and unpredictable developments of infectious diseases, especially measles, the Prime Minister has issued a telegram requesting units to strengthen disease prevention.
The Prime Minister requested units to accelerate the implementation of the measles vaccination campaign. Resolutely ensure sufficient human resources, funding, materials, equipment, and vaccines to accelerate the vaccination progress, completing it in March.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan also requested provinces and cities to review areas with low vaccination rates to organize catch-up and catch-up vaccinations to ensure that the disease does not spread widely.
Measles is still complicated in the South.
On March 17, Dr. Huynh Hung Dung - Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Can Tho Children's Hospital - said that the department currently has 112 cases of measles and suspected measles being treated. Most of them are children under 1 year old, who have not been vaccinated against measles or have not received enough doses. Compared to the same period in previous years, the number of outpatient visits and inpatient treatment has increased.
According to the Can Tho Center for Disease Control, the measles situation is predicted to continue to be complicated in the first quarter of 2025. Therefore, in addition to maintaining the measles vaccination program for children aged 9 months (first dose) in the expanded immunization program, there is also a catch-up vaccination in the 1-10 year old group who have not received enough doses... Can Tho CDC is proposing to request a vaccine source to vaccinate measles - Rubella for children aged 6 - 9 months.
According to the assessment of the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, the disease is still complicated in the southern region. The Pasteur Institute recommends that localities review to continue to inject additional vaccines; proactively investigate the vaccination rate in the community to evaluate the actual campaign.
Source: https://archive.vietnam.vn/vi-sao-benh-soi-keo-dai-o-mien-nam/
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