Vietnam Urges Parents to Have Children Vaccinated Against Chicken Pox

The Preventive Medicine Department under the Ministry of Health has urged local parents to bring their children aged above one to hospitals to get vaccinated against chicken pox. The call was made as 10 cases have occurred every week since Jan 1. Dr. Truong Huu Khanh, head of HCM City Pediatric Hospital No.1’s neurology and infectious diseases ward, said four children with chicken pox were treated at the ward on Feb 4. Dr. Khanh expects an increase in cases this year over 2014, based on the number of cases so far. Last year, HCM City experienced a shortage of vaccines when parents flooded the hospitals when the number of cases reached a peak. Two shots are effective, he said. Phan Trong Lan, head of the HCM City Pasteur Institute, said 8,492 chicken-pox cases occurred in southern provinces last year, an increase of 2.1 times compared to 2013. In 2014, the incidence of other contagious diseases, including measles, Rubella, whooping cough, and hand, foot and mouth, also increased compared to 2013. The number of measles cases increased 10.2 times; Rubella, 3.4 times; whooping cough, by 20%; and hand, foot and mouth, by 16.1%. The incidence of hand, foot and mouth cases in the southern provinces accounted for 73 per cent of the total number of cases in the country. Of the most common infectious diseases, hand, foot and mouth had the highest number of fatalities (eight) in the southern region. (www.vncdc.gov.vn Feb 4)