On March 31st, the Preventive Medicine Center of Ho Chi Minh City officially reported (computer translated) the first pertussis case appearing in Ho Chi Minh City this year.

The patient is a three-month-old boy (Ward 6, Tan Binh District, HCMC). She presented on day 1-2 with coughing spells. She was transferred to Children’s Hospital 2 (Ho Chi Minh City).

Investigations into contacts with the baby are being investigated.

Dr. Tran Dac Phu, head of the Preventive Medicine Department (Ministry of Health) said “Whooping cough is an acute respiratory infection, usually occurs in young children. The disease is transmitted by the respiratory tract from the mucous membranes of the mucous membranes of the nose, throat of patients coughing, sneezing.

“The disease is highly transmissible in people living in long closed spaces like schools”.

According to Phu, the onset of the disease may be without fever or mild fever, upper respiratory tract inflammation, fatigue, loss of appetite and cough. The very characteristic whooping cough. Cough and sore babies can not hold back, then the stage of breathing like cock crows. At the end of the cough, the cough usually flows through the phlegm throughout and then vomiting.

“The disease is often severe, sometimes fatal, causing pneumonia, bronchitis pneumonia, especially in children under 5 and malnourished children. Parents need to take children to receive full vaccination vaccine in time to prevent this disease, “Phu said.

To date, HCMC has had to monitor 18 outbreaks of mumps, chickenpox, and foot and mouth disease in schools in District 11, District 12 and Hoc Mon District. While these outbreaks have not been completely resolved, pertussis has become a cause for concern.