HCM City sees uptick in hand-foot-mouth disease among children

A child with hand-foot-mouth disease at HCM City’s Children’s Hospital. – Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY – Southern provinces are seeing an increase in the incidence of hand-foot-mouth disease among children due to the recent hot weather and rains.

The Cần Thơ City Children’s Hospital has been seeing a spike in the number of patients with the disease, not only from the city but also nearby provinces such as Sóc Trăng and Vĩnh Long.

In May the number was in fact up seven times from April, according to the hospital. Its infection department admitted 100 patients every day during the month.

Dr Huỳnh Hùng Dũng, head of the department, said hand-foot-mouth disease typically affects young children, mostly under the age of five.

“Towards the end of the year children are more likely to get the disease with complications. Parents need to look after their children carefully to quickly spot the diseases and get them treated early.”

According to Phạm Văn Quang, head of the intensive care unit at HCM City’s Children’s Hospital No. 1, it is currently the hand-foot-mouth disease season but most cases at his hospital only have mild complications.

Parents need to watch out for severe signs such as high fever of up to 40 degrees Celsius that lasts for more than two days, shivering, cold limbs, and excessive vomiting, and quickly take their kids to a hospital.

According to the Ministry of Health, the current hot and humid weather and increased travelling by people are facilitating the spread of many diseases among children such as hand-foot-mouth, dengue fever and diarrhoea caused by the Rotavirus.

Cities and provinces have been instructed to focus on disease prevention activities such as exterminating mosquitoes in public places, looking out for disease clusters and raising awareness of disease prevention. – VNS