Hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD) is developing at an alarming rate in schools in HCM City as the new school year has just begun.
Nursery schools have been heavily hit by HFMD
According to the local Preventive Medicine Centre, HCMC has nearly 8,000 people hospitalised, most of them children aged between two and five years old. The situation has become more complicated since August and the number of infected cases has surpassed the health sector's predictions.
Schools and parents are very worried since the disease increased sharply right at the start of school year.
In March, there are only few case but by May, there are around 40 schools in the city that have at least two infected children. After the summer holiday, the rate has increased to 80 schools.
The first sign of the outbreak was when Nursery School 15 in District 11 had to close because they had eight infected children.
Nguyen Dac Tho, Deputy Head of the local Preventive Medicine Centre said the disease easily spread through the school environment, with some parents stupidly letting their sick children go to school because they either didn’t understand the seriousness of the illness or were just too busy. As a result, 35% of the hospitalised children had been found ill at schools.
Another reason is that parents and schools are still ignoring the disease prevention activities and totally depending on the health sector to resolve the aftermath. Wrong diagnosis has also caused difficulties in controlling the disease.
To prevent further outbreaks, aside from ensuring more hygienic conditions for children, including the cleaning of their homes, tools and toys every day, parents are advised to let their children stay at home if they have a fever, while schools have been asked to quickly determine whether children have a fever during school hours.
Schools must report such cases to the local health department if they detect a HFMD case to prevent the spread of the disease.