Parents in central Vietnam rush to get kids vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis

Parents in central Da Nang City have hurriedly had their children vaccinated against Japanese encephalitis (JE) after hearing that viral encephalitis has spread to 31 localities in Vietnam, affecting 325 people and killing five of them in the first half of this year.

>> Viral encephalitis affects 325 people, kills 5 in Vietnam >> JE spreads in northern Vietnam; HFMD on rise in southern region

Like in the past several days, hundreds of parents took their kids to the Da Nang Preventive Health Center for vaccination against the disease on Monday, causing an overload at the health facility, Dr. Ton That Thanh, the center’s director, said.

The center has arranged four desks for vaccination to serve the increasing number of children taken to the center, with about 200 kids vaccinated per day, Dr. Thanh said.

Due to the overload, many parents had to take their kids back home yesterday without any vaccination after waiting all day long, he added.

Da Nang is not a hotspot of JE, but parents, after hearing of the spread of the disease in other localities, have rushed their kids to the center for inoculation, the doctor said.

From the beginning of the year, the center has detected ten suspected JE cases, of which one in Hoa Vang District has been confirmed positive, Dr. Thanh said.

Of the five deaths so far, two were in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai, and one each in Hanoi, northern Dien Bien Province, and southern Bac Lieu Province, according to the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Health Department.

Sixty-five percent of the patients were in the northern region, while 12, 17 and 4.4 percent were in the central, Central Highlands and southern regions, respectively.

Ho Chi Minh City topped the list of the patient count, followed by Hanoi, Quang Ngai Province in the central part, and Thai Binh Province in the north.

The JE virus is the leading cause of vaccine-preventable encephalitis in Asia and the western Pacific, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

For most travelers to Asia, the risk for JE is very low but varies based on destination, duration of travel, season, and activities, the CDC said.

The JE virus is maintained in a cycle involving mosquitoes and vertebrate hosts, mainly pigs and wading birds. Humans can catch the disease when bitten by an infected mosquito. Most human infections are asymptomatic or result in only mild symptoms, according to the CDC.