Vietnam Ministry Warns of Rising Numbers of Infectious Diseases

The Vietnamese Ministry of Health has warned of the increasing number of people with complicated and infectious diseases due to climate change and abnormal weather conditions, state media reported.
Among the disease, hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) is the most prominent to sicken tens of thousands of people amid the undeclared epidemic, experts said, adding that in Oct, 19,500 new infectious cases of HFMD with 21 deaths were reported, bringing the total number to 78,000 with 139 fatalities so far this year. With an additional 7,500 new cases and six more deaths last month, dengue fever is the second most infectious disease on the rise in the country. Up to 42,000 people contracted the disease with 44 fatalities in the first ten months of 2011. They added that other highly infectious diseases affecting people in high numbers are hepatitis, encephalitis, typhoid and swine influenza (A/H1N1) with 7,100; 914; 538 and 734 infection cases, respectively. Despite frequent warnings by health authorities, people still ignore safety regulations and do not adopt hygienic habits, with the result that cases of food poisoning are also on the rise, they noted. The country ever saw sharp fall in infectious disease infection rate in previous years, with 59.2% in 1986, 24.94% in 2006 and 22.9% in 2009. Vietnam is estimated to identify around 3.5 million people with contagious diseases per year, the ministry added. (Sai Gon Giai Phong Nov 2)