The first death in Vietnam from monkeypox

On October 25, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health Nguyen Van Vinh Chau said that the patient, who lives in Long An, was admitted to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases due to fever and blisters for 9 days. He was isolated for treatment, tested for blisters, and the PCR result was positive for monkeypox.

The patient had severe immunodeficiency with a positive HIV test. During treatment, he developed severe systemic infections with Candida, pneumonia, tuberculosis, which progressed to septic shock and severe multiple organ failure.

Doctors treated him intensively with a ventilator, blood filtration, antibiotics, antifungals, and anti-tuberculosis drugs. However, due to the severe progression of his condition, the patient died after 18 days.

This is the first monkeypox patient to die in Ho Chi Minh City as well as in Vietnam. The Department of Health has directed the establishment of a professional council to conclude and report on this case.

Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases is treating 20 cases of monkeypox, of which 18 are HIV patients, including 17 men and one woman. Of these, two have severe progression with diagnoses of blood infection, perineal infection, malignant syphilis...

As of October 16, Ho Chi Minh City announced 19 cases of monkeypox, Binh Duong two cases, Long An one case. The source of infection for most of the patients has not been determined. After that, Ho Chi Minh City did not announce any more cases, other than the number being treated as above. However, experts believe that the pathogen has been quietly circulating in the community, the above patients are considered "domestic cases".

Doctors believe that monkeypox is transmitted in a similar way to HIV through contact, rubbing against blisters, or having sex with an infected person... Most of the disease occurs in homosexual men, bisexuals, people with multiple sexual partners, and is transmitted through sexual intercourse.

The disease is quickly cured if the patient has good immunity, but often progresses severely, even life-threatening for people with immunodeficiency such as HIV/AIDS, cirrhosis, diabetes... Severe symptoms are often larger, more widespread skin lesions (especially in the mouth, eyes and genitals), secondary skin infections leading to sepsis and severe pneumonia.

Experts advise against being overly concerned because monkeypox is not easily spread in the community. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared monkeypox no longer a public health emergency of international concern, lifting its highest alert level on May 11, 2023. Previously, on July 23, 2022, the agency declared monkeypox an international public health emergency, classified as a dangerous infectious disease.

People should be vigilant and proactive in taking precautions if they are in a high-risk group and avoid close contact with people with suspected symptoms. People with suspected symptoms such as an acute rash of unknown cause accompanied by one or more other signs such as fever above 38 degrees Celsius, swollen lymph nodes, headache, muscle pain, back pain, weakness, etc. should proactively self-isolate, avoid sexual intercourse, and contact a medical facility for timely monitoring and advice.