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According to the health sector of Ho Chi Minh City, the hand, foot and mouth disease continues to increase rapidly and may take another 3-4 months to subside. In particular, the time students return to school will coincide with the second peak of hand, foot and mouth disease, so it is necessary to strengthen control and prevent the spread of the disease.

Records at a number of children’s hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City show that the number of children hospitalized due to hand, foot and mouth disease has not shown any signs of cooling down. To meet the demand for examination and treatment, hospitals have had to increase staff and expand more beds.

According to BS.CKII Du Tuan Quy, Head of the Department of Infection – Neurology at Children’s Hospital 1, currently, children with hand, foot and mouth disease have not shown any signs of reduction, in the department are treating more than 160 children with hand, foot and mouth disease, in which Grade 2b and above account for 25 – 30%.

“Because of the high number of cases, in addition to the Department of Infection – Neurology, in addition to adding more medical staff, the hospital added another floor to receive and treat, with two wards for the treatment of severe patients, the ICU. infection and the Department of Active Resuscitation – anti-poison,” shared Dr. Du Tuan Quy.

Similarly, at the City Children’s Hospital, through the hospital’s statistics, the number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease continuously increased at a high level. On average, the City Children’s Hospital treats about 100-150 children a day. At the hand, foot and mouth disease clinic, 200-300 children are examined a day.

“Facing the increasing number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases, the hospital has directed the Department of General Internal Medicine to receive hand, foot and mouth pediatric patients. Thus, the total capacity of beds for hand, foot and mouth disease is 250 beds”, said Doctor Nguyen Minh Tien, Deputy Director of the City Children’s Hospital.

Information about the epidemic of hand, foot and mouth disease in Ho Chi Minh City, on August 4, the Center for Disease Control of Ho Chi Minh City said, in week 30 (from 24/7 to July 30). The number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease continued to increase rapidly with 2,665 cases recorded, 1.4 times higher than the average 4 weeks ago of 1,862 cases.

In 21/22 districts and Thu Duc city (except for Can Gio district), the number of hand, foot and mouth disease cases in week 30 increased compared to the average of 4 weeks ago. Specifically, districts with a high number of cases per 100,000 people include Binh Tan, Binh Chanh and Tan Phu districts.

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According to the health industry, the 2011 and 2018 epidemic seasons were the years when the circulation of the EV71 virus strain appeared, the epidemic season lasted 5-6 months and this year, Ho Chi Minh City also appeared the EV71 virus strain. “This year’s hand, foot and mouth disease season has started for 2 months and according to the epidemic season of the years when the EV71 virus strain appeared, we must continue to prepare measures to prevent hand, foot and mouth disease in about 3-4 months. Only then can the epidemic come down,” said Ms. Le Hong Nga, deputy director of the Center for Disease Control in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, the cause of the disease is Enterovirus (EV71) – a highly virulent virus strain that is easy to cause severe disease and can cause death. Specifically, 6 children died at the city’s hospitals, but all had household registration documents from other provinces and cities. Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City, EV71 is the cause of major epidemics in 2011 and 2018, so the Department of Health recommends strengthening epidemic prevention solutions because according to the forecast, the number of hand foot mouth will continue to increase in the near future.