Five students and teachers at the Quoi Xuan Primary School in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 12 have rubella, the city Department of Health said February 22 following tests.

Measles patients receiving treatment at Ha Noi’s Bach Mai Hospital (Photo: H.Hai)

It was the second major incidence after eight employees at a fashion shop on Hai Ba Trung Street came down with the disease a few days earlier.

A teacher at the school, who recently visited Ha Noi, was first detected with a rash on his skin. Medical workers have disinfected tables, chairs, and toilets at the infected school and administered shots to children and staff not inoculated against the disease.

The DoH is working with district people’s committees, the education department, and local medical centers to watch out for outbreaks of measles and rubella at all educational centers and schools.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) told the Pasteur Institute on February 22 to prevent the disease from spreading, quickly distribute MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) vaccines to clinics, and inoculate babies aged less than a year under the national expanded program on immunization.

The Ha Noi-based National Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases said it has treated 25-30 measles patients in the last few days.

More than 1,300 measles cases have been reported countrywide.

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