Two more cases of influenza A (H1N1) were confirmed on June 9 following tests, taking the total number of cases in Vietnam so far to 17.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health said one of the patients is a 40-year-old man who returned recently from the US. The other 289 passengers arriving on the flight with him are under observation by local preventive health authorities. The man is receiving treatment at the city’s Tropical Diseases Hospital.
The second patient is a nine-year-old boy living in the city who reportedly contracted the disease due to close contact with infected people.
Two other patients have been quarantined at the General Hospital in the central province of Binh Dinh, a health official said on June 9.
The two, a 30-year-old man and a four-year-old girl, returned to Vietnam after visiting several countries including Mexico, and were hospitalized with fever and body pain.
But the 30-year-old man did not disclose to doctors at a local medical clinic in Binh Dinh Province that he had returned from Mexico, a nation that is suffering from a H1N1 flu pandemic, and subsequently went home.
Eleven people who came into contact with the two patients are now under medical supervision.
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has apprised the culture, sports and tourism departments, Vietnam Tourism Association, travel agents and upscale hotels on the H1N1 flu situation.
It has told concerned agencies to put out up-to-date information about the disease and inform local and foreign tourists about safety measures they require to take, but without setting off a panic.
It has ordered tour operators not to take clients to affected nations.
