News Desk
Viet Nam News
The Ministry of Health has confirmed the first case of swine flu in Viet Nam.
A 23-year-old Vietnamese student recently returning from the US has become Viet Nam’s first case of swine flu, officials said Sunday.
The student tested positive for the A H1N1 virus at the HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital on Saturday, head of HCM City Department of Health, Nguyen Van Chau said.
Chau said the blood sample was also tested at the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the same result was confirmed yesterday morning.
Viet Nam is the 54th country to report a case of the deadly flu.
The student, a resident in HCM City’s Tan Binh District, is now in quarantine.
He travelled on United Airlines flight No 869 from Wisconsin State with a transit in Hong Kong, and showed no symptom of the disease upon arrival in HCM City on May 26.
He developed a light fever and visited a doctor at Thong Nhat Hospital last Wednesday before being referred to HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital.
Chau said people who came into close contact with the man following his return from the US were also being kept in isolation. They include 188 passengers on the flight, five members of his family, taxi drivers and health workers. The five family members have tested negative for the virus.
"The case has warmed up our epidemic prevention systems that were set up a month ago," Chau said.
He said city authorities were confident their team of experienced health workers, who were trained to fight the SARS epidemic in 2003 and bird flu, would curb any spread of the disease.
"In the worst scenario, the HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital will be used to treat victims of the virus," Chau said.
Local authorities were trying to track down the remaining passengers who were on the affected flight, Chau said. According the department, six travellers with a body temperature above 38 degrees Celsius arrived from Britain, Taiwan, mainland China, US and Viet Nam on Saturday. They have all been quarantined at HCM City Tropical Diseases Hospital and Children’s 1 Hospital.
Over 9,500 passengers passed through HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport on Saturday. Out of the total, 5,170 were travelling from flu-hit areas.
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