Doctor Pham Anh Van at Ha Giang Provincial General Hospital said that they admitted 11 children aged between 3-12 who suffered serious digestive problems after eating a kind of wild poisonous fruit on July 31 and August 1.
According to the children's families, they found and ate the fruit while grazing buffaloes near a forest in Dong Van District. They then developed symptoms of belly aches, nausea, headaches, and dizzy and were rushed to the Dong Van District General Hospital.
After receiving intensive treatment, six children improved while five others worsened and had to be transferred to the Ha Giang Provincial General Hospital. One of the five, a nine-year-old boy then died on August 1 from serious poisoning and three others had to be transferred to the National Children's Hospital in Hanoi for further treatment.
Doctors at the hospitals in Ha Giang and Hanoi said that the children being treated here are recovering.
Experts said that the wild fruits that the children ate look like the star apples. They ripe from June to August and has purple colour. The fruits contain some toxic substances including Ankaloid, Axit Amin, Axit Cacboxylic, Flavonoid, and Polyphenol.
Several poisonous cases relating to this fruit have been reported in the area.