Hot weather, increased number of children with meningitis

The number of children with meningitis has increased sharply, causing hospitals to become even more overloaded.

In the North, the intense and continuous heat of the past few days has caused the number of hospitalized children to increase. The number of hospitalized children mainly suffered from viral fever, diarrhea, respiratory diseases, and food poisoning.

Pham Quoc Anh, a boy living in Vu Trong Phung Street, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi, was sent back to his hometown in Phu Tho by his parents during the summer vacation. He suddenly had a fever, headache, continuous vomiting and a stiff neck. Seeing this, his family took him back to Hanoi and examined him at Bach Mai Hospital. The cerebrospinal fluid test results showed that he was infected with a virus that causes meningitis. If not treated promptly, it can lead to high fever, lethargy, coma, convulsions, affecting intellectual development, and even leading to death.

Mr. Pham Quoc Huong, Pham Quoc Anh's father, said: "I intended to let him stay in the countryside to continue playing, but seeing that he had a slight fever, I let him go home. He vomited while riding in the car. Normally, he never vomits while driving. When we got home, he complained of a headache and vomited again after eating. Thinking that he might have fallen, I took him to the hospital for a check-up. The doctor did a CT scan and found no problems. Later, we discovered that he had meningitis."

According to Dr. Nguyen Thanh Nam, Acting Head of the Pediatrics Department, Bach Mai Hospital, every day the department receives nearly a dozen patients diagnosed with meningitis, an increase of one and a half times compared to the same period last year. Most of them are viral meningitis, but there are also cases of meningitis caused by complications from mumps, chickenpox, and hand, foot and mouth disease.

One of the children with viral encephalitis

The Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases also received many patients with meningitis during the hot days, including both children and adults. Professor Nguyen Van Kinh, Director of the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, said that the patients mainly had viral meningitis, and no cases of meningococcal encephalitis had been detected, while in Ho Chi Minh City, one death from this disease was recorded:

“Speaking of encephalitis, there are many causes. If caused by microorganisms, it includes bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Bacteria can cause encephalitis, meningitis, and in the case of purulent encephalitis, it can also lead to brain abscess. Bacteria include gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, of which the most dangerous is meningococcus, a gram-negative bacteria that causes both inflammation and hemorrhage. As for the cause of viruses, there are many types, some of which directly attack nerve cells such as Japanese encephalitis B, encephalitis caused by the herpes virus, and encephalitis caused by rabies,” said Professor Nguyen Van Kinh.

At the National Children's Hospital, in just the past week, tens of thousands of children have come for examination and every day hundreds of children have to be hospitalized or treated as outpatients with many different diseases such as: viral fever, diarrhea, respiratory diseases, food poisoning, especially children with encephalitis and meningitis have increased sharply, causing the hospital to be overloaded, doctors and nurses are working at full capacity and the children's families have to find ways to cope with the hot weather.

According to hospital leaders, although the number of pediatric patients has only increased slightly, it is expected to increase in the coming days due to serious cases being transferred from lower-level hospitals or patients becoming seriously ill while self-treating at home.

According to the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), recently, the National Children's Hospital recorded the death of a patient with encephalitis because the lower level staff failed to diagnose and only treated bronchitis when the patient had a cough and fever. By the time the family transferred the patient to a higher level, the disease was already severe and he did not survive.

Dr. Truong Dinh Bac, Deputy Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, said that this is the time when encephalitis and meningitis epidemics are developing strongly: “This season is the season for mosquitoes to develop Japanese encephalitis and also the season when this disease increases. This disease is very dangerous, causing acute brain syndrome and a high mortality rate. There is a vaccine for Japanese encephalitis B in the Expanded Immunization Program, so children must be vaccinated on schedule.

Japanese encephalitis is transmitted by mosquitoes, and the host of the disease is pigs. Therefore, pigsty should not be placed next to the house and children should not play near livestock pens to prevent mosquito bites from transmitting the disease.

Hot weather is the cause of heatstroke and many diseases, especially in children. Parents should keep their children indoors with good ventilation, avoid letting them stay in the sun for too long and should not let them swim in the sea or in the swimming pool between 10am and 4pm. In addition, the air conditioning temperature in the room should not be set too low; do not let the fan blow directly on the child.

Both children and adults need to eat and drink cooked food; ensure food hygiene and safety; drink enough water and increase nutrition, increase fruit intake to supplement vitamins, increase the body's resistance. Improve personal hygiene and wash hands with soap regularly./.

According to VOV