Dak Lak (VNA) – On Thursday 3 November the General Department of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health sent an official note to the Department of Health of the province of Dak Lak (Central Highlands), asking it to step up the prevention and control of monkeypox (monkeypox).
The claim was made after a 59-year-old man from Dak Lak, who had previously traveled to South Africa for tourism purposes, developed symptoms suspected of being monkeypox after returning home.
The text asks the Department of Health of the province of Dak Lak to take samples from the suspected case and send them to the hygiene and epidemiology institutes and the Pasteur institutes for testing.
The department should track the man’s close contacts, maintain health surveillance, and address clusters of disease (if any) in a timely manner to prevent the spread of the disease, according to the text.
The department is called upon to strengthen border controls and health facilities, train health workers, review intervention scenarios, prepare in terms of drugs, equipment, personnel and funding, and intensify communication work.
The aforementioned man traveled to South Africa as a tourist on October 19 and returned to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on October 26 after transiting through Singapore, the health department from Dak Lak province said.
Between October 26 and November 1, the man had contact with family members and others. After symptoms such as joint pain and rashes began to appear on November 1, he isolated himself at home. Close contacts of him showed no abnormal signs.
If the test proves positive, humans would be the third case of monkeypox in Vietnam. The first two cases were women returning from Dubai who recovered, presenting no risk of transmission in the community. – VNA
