Viet Nam

Viet Nam maintains vigilance for influenza A/H7N9

Viet Nam maintains vigilance for  influenza A/H7N9

Data analyses carried out by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) indicated that there were two peaks of the epidemiological curve, representing two main periods, as follows: Period 1 had 135 human cases, compared with period 2 with 220 cases (counted up to 18 February 2014). There was a five-month gap between these two peaks, during which there were only 2 cases reported. These two peaks were occurred during the winter period in China. There were no significant differences identified between two peaks when data were analyzed based on the gender and age of patients. WHO confirmed that no evidence indicating human-to-human transmission has been detected to date. As of June 2014, evidence for international transmission was not identified for either human or poultry infection. However, WHO recommends that each of its member countries should strengthen surveillance for serious pneumoniaand ensure timely reporting as important strategies to contribute to controlling the disease.

Viet Nam has carried out a large number of measures to prevent the introduction of the A/H7N9 strain of influenza into the country. In particular, the agriculture sector has carried out intensive surveillance, with more than 73,000 samples collected from more than 100 live bird markets (LBM) or poultry gathering points in 11 provinces located close to the border with China or in other identified high risk areas. All  of the samples that were collected were tested, however to date no sample was found to be positive for the influenza A/H7N9 virus. The public health sector also carried out intensive surveillance, with more than 800 throat swab samples collected and tested. To date none of these samples has been found positive for the A/H7N9 virus. The results of these tests provide very good evidence of the strong efforts and effective collaboration between the two sectors, applying a One Health approach.