Apathy was a major hurdle in fighting swine flu, despite reports of many new infections, National Hospital for Tropical Diseases doctor Doan Van Trung said recently.
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| A doctor examines a patient infected with A/H1N1 at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. |
"Swine flu, or A/H1N1, can spread rapidly by direct contact or through the air by coughing or sneezing," Trung said.
"However, many are indifferent to the dangers involved, so they still go to work without wearing masks, not knowing they have swine flu because the symptoms are the same as with common flu."
Since the beginning of the year, 347 cases of A/H1N1 flu had been detected in 35 cities and provinces, 10 of them fatal.
The worst cases were in February, when 18 students at Muong Nhe District Boarding School in northern Dien Bien Province tested positive to swine flu, and last month, when eight students at Doan Thi Diem High School in southern Ben Tre Province\'s Tan Phong Commune were found to have the virus.
Trung said the hospital for tropical diseases had received 176 patients with A/H1N1. About 43 per cent of those who had died were pregnant women, he said.
Nguyen Huyen Thuong, mother of a four-year-old boy, said she and her child seldom wore masks when they went to hospitals for check-ups.
"We all forget about it and my son finds the mask inconvenient," she said.
Thuong said children did not wear masks at schools.
Meanwhile, Dr Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong of the HCM City Pasteur Institute, said patients showing swine flu symptoms, such as cough, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle or joint pains, chills, vomiting or diarrhoea, for more than three days should seek medical help immediately.
Phuong said they should not self-prescribe, especially with the anti-viral medication Tamiflu, which can have side effects.
The A/H1N1 flu virus hit Viet Nam in May 2009, infecting 10,000 people, leaving 50 dead. The epidemic was described as being under control in July 2010.
