Sad News In Vietnam

This article came to light today from http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01HEA210208. I just pray that our baby waiting for us to bring her home is being well treated and isn't sick. I pray for all the babies waiting for their forever homes. We need to get these babies home NOW.


Rhino virus turns killer in country’s north
(21-02-2008)

Infants affected by virus Rhino A virus receive treatment at the National Paediatrics Hospital. — VNA/VNS Photo Huu Oai

HA NOI — Paediatricians have yet to find the best way to treat a Rhino virus that has killed nine of 19 infected infants in northern Viet Nam during the past two months.

Another six of the children – all less than a year old – have fallen seriously ill.

The virus was not normally dangerous and the children had died because they were not taken to hospital quickly enough, National Paediatrics Hospital deputy director Nguyen Van Loc said yesterday.

The hospital’s director, Nguyen Thanh Liem, said it was the first time the virus had caused acute pneumonia in Viet Nam.

The disease developed quickly and the damage done to the lungs was as critical as that of SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, he said.

"The virus infected many patients in the past, but we lacked the equipment to identify it," the director explained.

"We did not give it much attention because no deaths were reported.

"But there was as yet no vaccine against the virus or medicines specific to its treatment.

"Physicians are using respirators, injecting them with the antibody globulin and medicines in an effort to save the stricken children."

The director said the hospital’s paediatricians now planned an on-line consultation with Japanese physicians in an effort to identify the best treatment.

Regarding possible causes for the fatalities, National Paediatrics Hospital deputy director Loc pointed to the prolonged cold spell and poor caring conditions.

He said, "All of the cases were of babies less than five-months-old, all of whom had fallen ill due to the harsh weather conditions.

The infants were not breast fed and lacked their mothers’ care, causing their overall health to plummet, in effect making them more vulnerable to the virus."

Loc said that though these causes were inconclusive, they could be proved by the fact that none of the infected children had come from a family.

Most of the infected children are reported to have been from orphanages in Ha Tay, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces and Ha Noi’s outlying Dong Anh District.

A hospital delegation that visited the Dong Anh orphanage before the lunar new year found that about 80 per cent of the children showed symptoms of the virus.

The physicians wanted to understand the reasons for the outbreak and devise methods for its treatment but they have not been able to identify why the virus has caused acute pneumonia in children.

The hospital’s Dr Pham Viet Hung said the Rhino virus was common throughout the world and was not new.

It accounted for more than 20 per cent of common colds and from one to five per cent of pneumonia in children.

It had not been thought of as deadly, he said. — VNS