After the Ministry of Health reported April 20 the first case of cholera this year in Hanoi, Tu Liem District authorities have quarantined the patient’s neighborhood.

Following the first case of cholera this year in Hanoi, in Tu Liem District, suspected to be caused by eating dog meat or shrimp paste, authorities have inspected eateries selling the meat and isolated the victim’s neighborhood (Photo: SGGP)

The head of the ministry’s Preventive Medicine Department, Dr. Nguyen Huy Nga, announced earlier that the patient, a 51-year-old man in the district’s Xuan Dinh Commune, had contracted the disease on April 15 and received treatment at Hospital E.

Tests by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology found the patient positive for the virulent vibrio cholera virus.

The man said he had eaten fresh vegetables, dog meat, and shrimp paste a day before he fell ill.

Dr. Nga said the hot and wet weather is conducive to the spread of diseases, especially diarrhea and cholera.

The Tu Liem District preventive medicine center is monitoring the area where the patient lives and given his relatives drugs.

Foodstuff hygiene and safety inspectors launched a check of dog slaughterhouses and eateries in the district. There are 49 restaurants selling dog meat meat, vegetables, and shrimp paste in the district.

Xuan Dinh, where the cholera patient lives, has  four dog meat eateries without certificates of food hygiene and safety. The inspectors asked their owners to shut down and took samples of the meat, vegetables, and shrimp paste from the restaurants’ suppliers.