At a meeting of the National Steering Board on Flu Prevention in Humans in Hanoi on November 11, the Head of the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s Department of Preventive Medicine and the Environment, Nguyen Huy Nga, said the vaccines, provided by the World Health Organisation, will arrive in Vietnam in mid December, 2009.
The Ministry of Health confirmed that one more pregnant woman has died from the super flu, raising total fatalities due to the disease in the country so far to 41, 10 of which were pregnant women.
The latest fatality was a 16-year old who was six months pregnant from the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang. She was hospitalised at the provincial hospital on November 7 after four days of fever and cough. Her health worsened and she died on November 9. She subsequently tested positive for the influenza virus type A/H1N1.
Nga firmly warned that pregnant woman with any suspected symptoms should immediately go to the nearest health clinic to receive proper treatment and not attempt to treat themselves at home, to prevent further complications from delayed treatment.
Deputy Director of the National Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases Nguyen Hong Ha said that it is difficult to define the real number of A/H1N1 patients in the community. However, the number of hospitalised pneumonia patients is on the rise and the majority are testing positive for H1N1, he added.