Doctors check up on N.A. on Monday

A Ho Chi Minh City woman afflicted with a virus transmitted by rodents is out of critical condition, doctors said.

N.A. fell ill late last month, but was not diagnosed correctly until a couple of days ago as the disease is very rare in Vietnam, he said.

Vu Thi Que Huong, head of HCMC Pasteur Institute’s Department of Micro-organisms and Immunity, said on Monday that N.A. is a very typical case of the disease.

But she said the virus had yet to be properly studied.

N.A. fell ill with a high fever on September 20 and was diagnosed with dengue fever by her doctor.

As the fever had not subsided three days later, she was hospitalized and diagnosed with viral fever.

The patient then began having kidney problems, difficulty breathing and blood showed in her urine, plus her stomach swelled and her lungs began to fill with fluid.

She was moved to the cardiovascular department when her heart beat slowed. She also had polyuria (excessive urination), fluid leakage in the outer cardiac membrane and other lung problems.

On October 3, NA was diagnosed with Hantavirus at HCMC Pasteur Institute.

The patient said she had seen mouse feces in her home.

The institute has given her family eight mousetraps to catch mice in her house and some nearby houses.

Doctors said they would also extract more blood for research.

The institute previously diagnosed another patient with Hantavirus, but the case was not as typical as this case, Huong said.

Hantavirus has an incubation time of 9 to 35 days in humans before symptoms of infection occur, according to Nam.

Nam said the symptoms include fever, muscle aches, headaches, dizziness, chills, stomach problems, and problems related to the heart and lungs.

No specific medications for the disease are available now, although Ribavirin – an anti-viral drug – is effective in the first stage of treatment, helping decrease the likelihood of death, Nam said.

The most effective treatment, according to him, is intensive care, respiratory support and the timely treatment of cardiovascular problems.

Hantavirus has historically killed more than half those infected since its discovery in 1993.

Source: Tuoi Tre