Unidentified intestinal illness kills seven babies in southern Vietnam
HANOI - A mysterious illness believed to attack the intestines has
killed seven babies in southern Vietnam in the past two weeks, a doctor
said Wednesday. Nineteen children have now died of the ailment since
February.
The seven babies, all under a year old, died suddenly after being admitted
to An Giang General Hospital, said hospital doctor Nguyen Thi Be Bay. The
first of these deaths was on April 7, the latest on Tuesday.
Authorities are unsure how the disease is contracted or whether it's
contagious.
An Giang province lies 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Vietnam's
main southern Ho Chi Minh City.
An official at Ho Chi Minh City's Pasteur Institute told The Associated Press
on Wednesday that two blood samples tested positive for the enterovirus
group, which attacks the intestines.
However, the official said it was not enterovirus 71, which killed 30 children
in Malaysia in 1997 and more than 50 children in Taiwan in 1998.
The institute is still analyzing 10 other samples and has sent other cultures
to Japan for testing, he said on condition of anonymity.
Since early February, the same illness has killed a dozen other young
children in Ho Chi Minh City and three other southern provinces.
The latest victims, from An Giang and Can Tho provinces, all suffered high
fever, diarrhea and convulsions. They then suddenly fell into comas and
developed respiratory and heart failure, Bay said.
Officials said the cases do not appear to be linked to severe acute
respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a new flu-like illness that
has killed five medical workers in Vietnam and more than 230 people
worldwide.
Reuters - April 23, 2003.
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