City commune sees diarrhea outbreak due to poor sanitation

Healthcare officials are warning of a diarrhea outbreak following the death of an infant last weekend.

A 10 month-old boy from Le Minh Xuan Commune, Binh Chanh District was brought to Children's Hospital No. 1, where he died of gastrointestinal infections caused by diarrhea, after a one-day treatment in the hospital, according to the local authorities.

His death prompted the local People's Committee on Wednesday to issue an outbreak alert for Le Minh Xuan.

Eight others from the commune have been hospitalized with diarrhea so far this month.

All patients showed positive with tests for harmful E.coli bacteria.

The city's Preventive Medicine Centre said that poor environmental hygiene was blamed for the outbreak.

One cause is communal sewage that was discharged into residents' fishponds.

Truong Van Hanh, vice chairman of the commune's People's Committee, said the VAC system of the commune was probably the culprit.

VAC in Vietnamese is vuon, ao, chuong, which means "garden/pond/livestock pen." It is a form of domestic agriculture in which food gardening, fish rearing and animal husbandry are wholly integrated.

Nguyen Tri Dung, head of the Preventive Medicine Centre, said that the commune will be at high risk of being attacked by dengue fever, hand-foot-mouth and Japanese encephalitis if authorised agencies do not take prompt preventive action.

Medical staff of the commune's health centre sprayed Chloramine B to destroy bacteria in the commune.

The city's health sector is working to bring the situation under control.

Le Hoang Phuc, a doctor from the Children's Hospital No. 1, said that parents are advised to feed their children with hygienic food, and to give them provide vitamin A as a defense against diarrhea.

Parents should take children to the nearest health clinic as soon as they are symptomatic