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Vietnam
April 9: no asymptomatic
transmission
Vietnam is now reporting a cumulative total of 62 cases. Four of these
cases have been detected in the last few days following stable reporting
of 58 cases for several consecutive days. The stable number of cases
raised hope that the outbreak in the French hospital in Hanoi had been
contained.
However, a 59th case was reported on 31 March. This male patient had
been in contact with his daughter, who was a patient at the French Hospital
at the time of Viet Nam's index case. This contact continued when the
daughter became an outpatient. The daughter's husband, who attended
the Hanoi French Hospital with his wife, had a mild febrile illness
which was undiagnosed at the time and which resolved spontaneously.
It is presumed that he had mild SARS and passed the infection to his
father-in-law (case 59). Assuming this to be true, WHO epidemiologists
maintain the view that asymptomatic transmission does not appear to
occur. Nor does this case suggest a longer incubation period than currently
assumed (2-7 days, with 10 days considered the rare maximum). Blood
is being taken for testing of the husband.
Case 60 is a doctor who cared for case 59 while he was in a provincial
hospital about 1.5 hours from Hanoi.
Cases 61 and 62 are young women who are part of the extended household
who provided considerable care for case 59.
WHO continues to work with the Ministry of Health to investigate the
contacts of these cases. It is anticipated that a few more new cases
will be linked to case 59. Careful monitoring of contacts continues.
Of the 62 cases, 44 have been discharged, 4 have died and 14 remain
in hospital. One of the hospitalized patients remains critically
ill, although slightly improved. All other hospitalized patients are
improving.
April 7:
The outbreak in Viet Nam began at a French hospital in Hanoi, where
the index case, a 48-year old Chinese-American businessman who worked
for an import-export company in Hong Kong, was admitted on 26 February.
The number of cases increased rapidly but then stabilized on 24 March
at 58 cases and remained stable for 10 consecutive days. As the maximum
incubation period for SARS is thought to be 10 days, the stable number
of cases over this period raised hope that Viet Nam's outbreak had been
brought under control. However, on 3 April a probable SARS case was
detected in a provincial hospital. Though the case could be linked back
to the French hospital, the absence of isolation and rigorous infection
control at the provincial hospital suggests that many hospital staff,
patients, and visitors could have been exposed, thus possibly seeding
further waves of cases. An additional three probable cases have been
reported over the past two days.
February 26 - first
case: 49-year Chinese-American businessman JCC, who had traveled in
China and Hong Kong is hospitalized at Hanoi's Vietnam-France Hospital;
February 28: WHO expert Dr. Carlo Urbani is called to the unusual
case of pneumonia, which wasn't treatable;
March 24: Vietnam's health ministry reports 59 cases
March 29: Dr. Carlo Urbani became ill while attending a medical
conference in Bangkok and died
April 4: WHO reports 58 cases with 4 deaths
NO NEW CASES
HAVE BEEN REPORTED IN VIETNAM SINCE MARCH 22
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