As Asia virus erupts, Vietnam counts itself lucky
HANOI - Vietnam may never really know
how it managed to tame a fatal pneumonia virus that has
rampaged through better medically equipped, more prosperous
neighbours like Singapore and Hong Kong.
It may just boil down to luck combined with quick early action.
"We're trying to understand what differences might be occuring
here as opposed to other countries," said Dr. Tim Uyeki, who
specialises in the epidemiology of influenza and other infectious
diseases with the Atlanta-based Centers of Disease Control and
Prevention.
He has been visiting Hanoi to help with the crisis.
Over a month after the new disease arrived in the communist
country via a 50-year-old Chinese American businessman who
had travelled to Shanghai and Hong Kong, two doctors and
two nurses who treated the man are dead, among nearly 60
infected.
Severe Acute Respiratory Symdrome (SARS) has been ferried
around the world by air passengers, killing three in Singapore
which has quarantined nearly 1,000 residents and sparking 92
new cases in one Hong Kong apartment block alone on
Monday.
Worldwide, more than 1,600 are infected and 59 dead.
Vietnam has seen no new cases of SARS for a week.
Experts say there probably isn't a single reason Vietnam, a poor
country of 80 million, has seen its outbreak confined to staff and
family of the Vietnam-France Hospital where the "index
patient", the man who first brought the disease to the country,
was treated and not spread in the general public.
The virus, which has flu-like symptoms and is marked by
breathing difficulties, could have weakened as it spread from
southern China, which experts believe to be the epicentre.
Enclose community
"The French hospital is quite an enclosed community with
people working close together," added Aileen Plant,
coordinator of the World Health Organization team sent to help
Hanoi with the outbreak.
"It may be that rather than spreading the virus externally they
infected each other," she said. "In the end we're guessing and
we won't really know until the outbreak pans out in Hong Kong
and Singapore."
The Vietnam-France Hospital, the only international standard
hospital in Hanoi, believes its early intervention played a large
role in containing the threat.
By alerting WHO and the Vietnamese medical authorities soon
after the February 26 admission of the U.S. patient, "We
contributed a lot to control the epidemic," said Dr. Yves
Nicolai, general director at the privately-owned institution.
WHO's Carlo Urbani, stationed in Hanoi, examined the index
patient two days after he was admitted and was the first to
identify the SARS virus.
The 46-year-old physician himself became a victim, falling ill
after arriving in Bangkok on March 11 for a medical conference
and dying there on Saturday from the virus.
The hospital has been quarantined, and has not been taking in
any new patients. Other medical centres in Hanoi also instituted
screening of patients before allowing them into their facilities.
"Two weeks ago I was really scared," said Dr. Bruno Wauters,
who has worked in Hanoi for five years and is at the private
Hanoi Family Medical Practice. "But they've shown they can
contain it."
By Christina Toh-Pantin - Reuters - March 31, 2003.
Vietnam distributes 500,000 health forms for international arrivals
HANOI - Authorities in Vietnam are distributing 500,000 health declaration forms to all land and air entry points in an attempt to prevent further cases of the atypical pneumonia that has claimed 57 lives worldwide, an official said Monday.
Visitors to Vietnam will be screened and have to declare their health status on arrival to screen for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), said an official from the ministry of health.
''Within Vietnam, the SARS situation has been successfully controlled with no more cases of infection reported from its community, but Vietnam could not guarantee that from other sources such as international travellers,'' the official said.
At least 50,000 health declarations have been collected by authorities since the outbreak began in late February, the official said.
The official recognized that the success of screening with declarations cannot be guaranteed.
''It is a more necessary preventive measure than ever, but it cannot be 100 per cent successful in detecting the disease if the passengers wish to hide their illness,'' said the official who declined to named.
Quarantine facilities were set up at Hanoi's international airport on March 19 and passengers arriving at Noi Bai Airport have to wash their hands, use eye and nose drops and are sprayed with disinfectant, an airport official said.
''We sterilized all our aircrafts and all passengers, especially those coming from SARS-affected countries are screened immediately after they get off their planes, said Pham Hong, the head of the airport's technical unit.
ZeeNews (.id) - March 31, 2003.
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