Vietnam sets up hot lines for MERS

To have quick response to information of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment under the Ministry of Health yesterday established hot line at 0984371919 and the website www.kcb.vn

Meantime, the Hanoi Department of Health has announced the Vietnamese-English hotline at 0969082115 and another at 0949396115 in Korean language through which callers can ask any questions about MERS and receive replies from epidemic consultants.

According to Professor Luong Ngoc Khue, head of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment, to early detect MERS-CoV infection cases and quarantine patients in hospitals, the Ministry will hold 5 training courses on examination, treatment and how to prevent transmission of the disease to medical workers.

These training courses will be organized in five regions and each class has 100-150 medical workers.

At same time, the Department ordered medical workers of big hospitals including Hanoi-based Bach Mai, the Central Tropical Diseases, Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray, Tropical Diseases and the Central Hue hospitals to hold fresher courses of filtering blood, hemodialysis, and Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) - a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung back into the bloodstream of very ill babies- to their counterparts in medical centers in districts and communes.

These hospitals that are assigned to receive MERS-CoV patients are asked to set up a special quarantine ward for those people who come to Vietnam from the disease-stricken regions.

Vietnam has yet to detect anyone infected with MERS, which first appeared in Saudi Arabia in 2012.

So far, Vietnam has had 10 suspected MERS cases but tests on them have all proven negative, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

Globally, since September 2012, 1,321cases of MERS infection have been confirmed, including at least 465 related deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a recent disease outbreak update. South Korea in the day has 4 fresh infection cases and 2 deaths, bringing the total infection cases to 154 people and 18 fatalities.

According to the WHO, the following 26 countries have reported cases of MERS: Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen (Middle East); Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom (Europe); Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt (Africa); China, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippines (Asia); and the United States of America (Americas). 

Hospitals to open examination rooms for MERS suspects 

Hospitals have been asked to set up isolated rooms for examining patients suspected of having MERS infection or people coming from regions affected by the disease, said a health official.

The proposal was put forth by Head of the Medical Examination and Treatment Department Luong Ngoc Khue at a conference held in Ha Noi yesterday (June 17) on preventive measures to contain the outbreak of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) at hospitals.

He asked all hospitals to establish different health examination rooms to specifically treat patients coming with the symptoms of acute respiratory infections, such as cough and fever, and patients who have travelled to countries hit by MERS.

Patients coming from countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as South Korea will be monitored in those examination rooms within 14 days of their arrival in Viet Nam.

The main purpose of such an isolation method is to prevent suspected cases from coming in contact with patients having other diseases and spreading the disease, said Khue.

If doctors suspect any of the patients of having MERS infection, they will be put under temporary quarantine, while their test samples will be sent to the National Hygiene and Epidemiology in Ha Noi or the Pasteur Institute in HCM City for confirmed diagnosis.

The Department of Medical Examination and Treatment has set up a hot line (0984371919) where the public can give information on suspected MERS cases in Viet Nam. People can also report on the department's website www.kcb.vn.

MERS is caused by a corona virus from the same family as the one that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that killed 800 people worldwide in 2002-2003.

MERS was first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and has since spread to other countries, with more than 1,000 infected cases and at least 400 casualties.

South Korea has seen the largest known outbreak outside the Arabian Peninsula, with 20 deaths and 154 confirmed cases since last month.

Suspected MERS-CoV cases in Hai Phong test negative

Two patients suspected of contracting the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) tested negative for the deadly virus, announced Dr. Nguyen Quang Tap, Director of the Vietnam-Czech Friendship Hospital in the northern city of Hai Phong on June 17.

One of the patients, a man who returned to Hai Phong from the Republic of Korea (RoK), which currently affected by MERS-CoV, had a high fever – a known symptom of the epidemic – after receiving an ear surgery at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the other, a woman, also had a fever several days after welcoming a relative who returned home from the US and passed in transit through the RoK.

According to doctors, the two patients were transferred immediately to a separate section of the hospital and their medical samples were sent for testing.

Preventive measures were also taken.

The city's International Health Quarantines Centre has organised round-the-clock examinations at the port to conduct quarantine procedures on

ships and crew members that have passed through MERS-CoV-affected areas before entering Vietnam via Hai Phong Port.

According to the World Health Organisation, the virus has spread to 26 countries. As of June 16, four new cases were reported in the RoK, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 154 with 19 deaths.

Medial workers trained in handling MERS-CoV

The Ministry of Health is organising a training course for more than 200 medical staff from 10 northern mountainous provinces on dealing with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) from June 17-18.

Medical workers from Departments of Health in Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, Yen Bai, Tuyen Quang, Ha Giang, Lang Son, Bac Kan, Cao Bang and Thai Nguyen as well as the Thai Nguyen Central General Hospital, the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital and the Central 71 Hospital received updated information on MERS-CoV in the world and in Asia specifically.

They reviewed plans on admitting and treating MERS-CoV patients and preventing the spread of the disease in hospitals.

No cases have been reported in Vietnam so far, but Thai Nguyen, home to many production bases of foreign companies including Samsung of the Republic of Korea, is among provinces with a high risk of MERS-CoV exposure.

VNS/VNA/SGGP