16 patients infected with A/H1N1 flu at Tu Du Hospital

On the afternoon of June 2, Dr. Nguyen Ba My Nhi, Deputy Director of Tu Du Hospital, said that the hospital is coordinating with the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Preventive Medicine to treat 16 people infected with A/H1N1 flu. 80 others must be quarantined here.

On the afternoon of June 1, a patient from Tien Giang province was treated for gynecological disease at the Endoscopy Department of Tu Du Hospital. This patient had a high fever and body aches, so the doctor postponed the surgery and discharged him to go home for monitoring. After that, many patients, relatives, and medical staff at the Endoscopy Department simultaneously had high fever and body aches.

Recognizing the unusual fever, Tu Du Hospital quickly invited doctors from the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases to take 18 test samples. The results on the morning of June 2 confirmed that 16 patients had tested positive for influenza A/H1N1.

The Endoscopy Department of Tu Du Hospital was quarantined on June 2. Photo:HH

More than 80 patients examined and treated in the endoscopy area are suspected of having had contact with patients in quarantine. The hospital has coordinated to handle the outbreak and prevent its spread.

The cases were patients in the endoscopy area awaiting gynecological surgery, no pregnant women were infected with the flu. There were no new cases of fever on June 2. Scheduled gynecological surgeries in this department were postponed. The endoscopy department is expected to be disinfected and resume operations on June 4.

The WHO currently considers the H1N1 virus to be a common seasonal flu virus, which can cause high fever, fatigue and body aches. This flu can affect pregnant women under 12 weeks of pregnancy. The disease can be transmitted through sneezing, coughing and direct contact with contaminated objects that then infect the nose and throat.

Tu Du is the leading obstetrics and gynecology hospital in the South.