Department of Preventive Medicine guides on prevention of meningococcal disease

Currently, there are many cases of meningococcal meningitis in Hanoi and some other localities.

Illustrative photo. (Photo: VNA)

In just the past two days, two cases of meningococcal infection in Hanoi have been detected consecutively.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, from the beginning of 2016 until now, there have been 6 cases of meningococcal meningitis nationwide, including one death.

Winter and spring are the times when meningococcal meningitis epidemics often increase. This is an acute infectious disease caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningtidis.

Meningococcal meningitis is transmitted through the respiratory tract by inhaling respiratory droplets containing the pathogen. In the past, the disease easily caused large epidemics and had a high number of infections and deaths. However, the number of infections has now decreased significantly.

According to statistics from 2011 to present, the whole country has 610 cases of infection and the year with the highest number of people infected was 2011 with 272 cases of meningococcal infection.

Since 2012, the number of meningococcal meningitis cases and deaths from the disease has gradually decreased.

Faced with the above situation, on February 25, the Department of Preventive Medicine issued an official dispatch requesting the Directors of the Departments of Health of provinces/cities to direct the strengthening of measures to prevent meningococcal disease.

Currently, local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are focusing on handling, monitoring, isolating patients at home and taking necessary measures to prevent the epidemic from spreading.

According to medical experts, vaccination and proactive prevention are considered effective methods to protect yourself from this dangerous disease.

To prevent meningitis and encephalitis caused by meningococcal virus and avoid spreading in the community, the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health) recommends that people practice good personal hygiene such as regularly washing hands with soap, and gargling with common nasal and throat antiseptic solutions.

People need to keep their living places clean and well-ventilated; take the initiative to vaccinate children; vaccines are given at vaccination service facilities.

In case of high fever, headache, nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, patients should go to a medical facility immediately for timely examination and treatment./

According to VNA