The General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health has sent a document to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, the Pasteur Institute, and Departments of Health of provinces and cities, on strengthening prevention and control of diseases caused by Adenovirus.

Accordingly, the Departments of Health of the provinces and cities direct health units to strengthen surveillance and early detection of cases and outbreaks caused by the Adenovirus, and to thoroughly handle the outbreaks and limit the spread of the disease.

Medical examination and treatment facilities are asked to well perform the reception, isolation and treatment for patients infected with Adenovirus, minimize the number of deaths, strictly implement prevention measures to prevent cross infection, and instruct the patients’ caregivers and family members about the risk of infection and compliance with measures to prevent infection.

In addition, special attention will be paid to widely publicising measures to prevent diseases caused by Adenovirus in the mass media.

The most common illnesses caused by Adenovirus infection are upper and lower respiratory tract infections, eye conjunctivitis or pinkeye, gastrointestinal diseases including diarrhoea, vomiting and nausea, cystitis, encephalitis and meningitis, according to the Ministry of Health.

The diseases caused by Adenovirus appear all year round but especially thrive at the time of seasons changing such as from spring to summer or autumn to winter.

Adenovirus is transmitted by droplets of respiratory transmission between people.

The disease can also be transmitted through mucous membranes when swimming or contaminated water used in daily life, or transmitted when healthy people share personal items with sick people.

The incubation period is about eight to 12 days.

Adenovirus can cause illness in all ages, with children between the ages of six months and five years the most common.

In particular, subjects such as children, the elderly and people with chronic diseases often have a high risk of infection with this virus due to weak resistance.

According to the latest statistics released by the National Children’s Hospital in Ha Noi, from early 2022 to mid-September, the hospital recorded 412 children infected with Adenovirus. Of which, 324 cases were hospitalised, and there were 6 deaths.

Reporting by PHAN CHUNG - Translating by M.DUNG