Vietnam reports its first monkeypox case

HANOI: Vietnam's Health Ministry has said that a 35-year-old woman had been diagnosed with monkeypox, who became the first case of monkeypox detected in the Southeast Asian country.

A resident in southern Ho Chi Minh City, the patient fell ill on September 18 while travelling in Dubai with symptoms of fever, fatigue, chills, muscle aches, headache and a cough, as well as red and itchy bumps on her arms, body and face, before returning to Vietnam on September 22, state media cited the Ministry on Monday as reporting.

On September 23, she was admitted to Tu Du hospital in the city and transferred to the Municipal Hospital of Dermato Venereology, where she was isolated, Xinhua news agency reported.

Two days later, the patient tested positive for monkeypox and was transferred to the Municipal Hospital for Tropical Diseases for further isolation, treatment and genetic sequencing. She is currently in stable condition with no fever, according to the report.

According to the Vietnamese Prime Minister's recent dispatch about preventing monkeypox and the health Ministry's guidance, localities have been requested to intensify the monitoring of possible transmissions at border gates and health clinics, and hold training sessions for their healthcare staff.

When a positive case of monkeypox is detected, the locality involved is required to carry out contact tracing and quarantine to prevent the epidemic from spreading in the community, state media reported.