Hanoi to disinfect lakes to fight cholera

17:14' 09/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – Hanoi will start disinfecting around 30 lakes and ponds this Wednesday in a drive to keep cholera from spreading after health experts last week found the bacterium Vibrio cholerae in one of these bodies of water.

Linh Quang lake. (Photo: VNN)
At an emergency meeting in Hanoi on Monday, Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, vice chairwoman of Hanoi, told the Departments of Transport and Public Works, and Health to immediately disinfect and clean up the contaminated lakes and ponds in the city.

The water has been contaminated due to untreated wastewater discharged directly into the lakes, she said, adding this was the reason for cholera to spread.

The city asked district authorities to keep the environment clean, monitor the quality of water treatment plants and tighten control of food hygiene and safety.

Relevant State agencies should increase the monitoring of waste-water discharge and drainage systems while the Department of Health should monitor hospital waste, she said.

Last week, the city used 1.3 tons of chloramine B to disinfect Linh Quang lake where the cholera bacterium was detected last week. Health workers are also testing water samples from every lake and pond in the city. Around 68 people living around the lake have contracted cholera.

Hanoi closed Van Chuong market by Linh Quang lake to prevent the spread of the disease on Monday.

The city's Department of Health reported on Monday that over 200 people in the capital city had been hospitalized for diarrhea and that 44 of them had tested positive for cholera.

Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Preventive Health Department of the Health Ministry, told the Daily on the phone that polluted water was the first cause of the escalating spread of the disease.

"To stamp out the epidemic, authorities and residents should tighten the monitoring of water quality by carrying out regular water tests," he said. "The public should be more aware of environment and food hygiene."

Nga warned the epidemic could boom in rural areas because 80% of the toilets there failed to meet hygiene standards and said it would be difficult to control the epidemic if waste continued being discharged into the lakes, ponds and other water sources.

Nga noted the demand for water would run high in the summer and there was a possibility of water shortages, which will in turn lead to haphazard water use in the population.

The provinces that are being hit by cholera are Ta Tay, Phu Tho, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Ha Nam and Vinh Phuc, with nearly 100 patients testing positive for cholera.

HCMC on Monday began taking bold measures to monitor cholera in the city though the disease had yet to spread to the city.

Phan Van Nghiem, head of the Physicians Office under the HCMC Department of Health, said the department had ordered the hospitals to monitor all diarrhea cases and prepare sufficient drugs and facilities to deal with emergency cases.

No cholera cases have been detected in the city, but the city should be on high alert for the disease, so residents should make sure to use clean water, he said.

* The agriculture ministry's Department for Animal Health on Monday reported that blue ear disease remained to be out of control as new outbreaks were detected in Thanh Hoa Province.

The disease has hit 165 communes of 11 districts in the province and at least 37,557 pigs have been killed by the disease. To prevent the epidemic from spreading further, local animal health workers have culled 27,671 pigs.

The pig disease is still active in four provinces - Quang Nam, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh.

Initial estimates by the agriculture ministry show Ha Tinh has 7,000 infected pigs, Nghe An 10,000 and Quang Nam 500.

The ministry forecast the disease would continue spreading, so health animal experts and market monitors should enhance coordination to prevent the illegal transport and trading of pigs in the affected areas.