Health official blames Vietnam cholera outbreak on bad hygiene

Hanoi - A Vietnamese health official said Wednesday the country's spreading cholera outbreak was due to a widespread lack of awareness about food hygiene. 'If people had healthy eating habits, they wouldn't be suffering,' said Nguyen Tran Hien, director of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE). 'If people eat well-cooked food and drink boiled water, they won't be affected.' According to Vietnam's Department of Preventive Medicine, an outbreak of acute diarrhea caused by cholera and other diseases has so far affected 534 patients in 12 provinces, mostly in the north. Hien said 53 of the patients have tested positive for vibrio cholerae, the bacterium which produces cholera toxin, including a patient in Ninh Binh province who died Friday. International studies have found low levels of personal hygiene knowledge in Vietnam, but also criticized the country's lack of sewage treatment facilities and clean drinking water. A UNICEF study released last year found that only 13 per cent of rural Vietnamese wash their hands with soap before eating and after defecation. But the study also found that just 12 per cent of rural schools had hygienic latrines, and only 46 per cent provided students with boiled drinking water. Sewage treatment plants in major cities are inadequate, and flooding during rainy season often causes raw sewage flowing through the streets. Nguyen Huy Nga, head of the Department for Preventive Medicine, said recent humid and rainy weather created favorable conditions for the bacteria to spread. Deputy Director Nguyen Hong Ha of the National Hospital for Tropical and Contagious Disease said the hospital was overloaded, with 30 patients suffering from acute diarrhea brought in each day. Vietnamese authorities are sending food hygiene inspectors to check food stores. They also warned people to avoid eating food with a high risk of contamination, including dog meat, raw vegetables, and shrimp paste. Hien said other diseases besides cholera causing the acute diarrhea included dysentery, typhoid and other viruses. The diseases are mainly spread through contaminated water, excrement, and unsafe food.