Officials from the Tan Binh District Preventive Health Agency in HCMC instruct a local resident (C) on preventive measures to guard against influenza A (H1N1)

Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are reporting difficulty in the fight against influenza A (H1N1), saying several individuals at high-risk for developing the disease are refusing to follow precautionary advice.

Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday there are now a total of 29 cases of influenza A (H1N1) in Vietnam.

But simply locating the potentially infected individuals has proved a challenging job for the teams.

“We have to work virtually around the clock since the first patient tested positive for the disease two weeks ago,” said Tran Quang Minh, deputy director of the Tan Binh Preventive Health Agency.

“It’s not rare to examine a suspected [flu-infected] individual at around 2 a.m. and encourage a home quarantine,” said Minh.

Another official said that locating people who had flown on planes with infected individuals was difficult because many refused to cooperate in providing a correct home or hotel address upon arrival.

“All passengers arriving in the country have to register their intended place of residence, but not all of them actually end up going there,” he said.

In a recent case, a Tuoi Tre reporter followed officials from HCMC’s Tan Binh District Preventive Health Agency to look for a woman who had arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport around the same time as another individual who was later diagnosed with influenza A (H1N1).

Arriving at the woman’s house on Bau Cat 3 Street, the team had to wait in the rain for the woman to return home from work. Subsequent verification found she had arrived at the airport around the same time, but on a different flight than the infected person.

The team checked her temperature to make sure she wasn’t showing any symptoms of the illness, and she was given a clean bill of health. The woman was provided with a face mask and contact details of the health agency should she develop any flu-like symptoms, and encouraged to limit her contact with others for the next few days.

Relentless mission

Le Van The, director of HCMC’s District 1 Preventive Health Agency said they have contacted 117 of 449 people who need to be monitored for early detection of the H1N1 virus.

“We have yet to find the other 382 cases,” he said. “Many of them had reported they were staying at hotels, but haven’t come.”

The agency has mobilized nearly 100 employees to search for the people, but as time passes, it becomes more difficult to locate them, he said.

The official recounted one incident in which his agency was tasked with finding a 75-year-old man who had stayed at the same hotel in Hong Kong as another individual who had later tested positive for the disease.

The man, identified only as T.A. from Co Giang Ward in HCMC’s District 1, was not aware of the need to be quarantined and went to great lengths to avoid contact with health officials, said The.

He fled from health authorities in Hong Kong and returned to Vietnam. When The and other agency officials finally tracked him down with the help of authorities in Hong Kong, they found the man had sold his house and moved away.

“We were very worried then because he could have infected many others while on the move and his health was not being monitored,” The said.

Officials eventually found the man staying at a friend’s house after questioning several of his neighbors. When a health team inspected him for signs of the virus, he appeared healthy, they said, and he was directed to quarantine himself at home.

Another man from Ben Nghe Ward in HCMC’s District 1 who was directed to stay under strict home quarantine, was also discovered dining out and playing sports, according to authorities.

“They may commit to follow quarantine requirements but it depends on their awareness [of the threat of the disease] and their willingness to follow them or not,” said Dr. Bach Van from Tan Dinh Ward Medical Center in District 1.

Source: TT, TN