Tetanus infections on the rise in Hanoi capital
VOV.VN - The capital of Hanoi has seen 23 patients suffer from tetanus since the beginning of the year, marking an a two-fold increase compared to the same period last year, with two deaths recorded.
The Hanoi Centre for Disease Control (CDC) stated on October 25 that the city had recorded a new patient with tetanus.
A 60-year-old man residing in Ba Dinh district had gone to Saint Paul General Hospital after having two injured legs on gas burns. While receiving treatment, he suffered lower extremity spasticity, jaw stiffness, and limited movement.
He was then admitted to Bach Mai Hospital and subsequently diagnosed with tetanus. Most notably, the patient had not been vaccinated against the disease.
Health experts noted that the infection rate amongst manual labourers and males is higher than amongst females who are usually injected with the vaccine during pregnancy.
Common initial symptoms of tetanus are a headache and muscular stiffness in the jaw (lockjaw), followed by stiffness of the neck, difficulty in swallowing, a hardening of abdominal muscles, spasms, sweating, and fever. Symptoms usually begin around eight days following infection, but onset may range from three days to three weeks. Due to the seriousness of the infection, patients should be taken to a hospital for treatment immediately or they may die.
The number of tetanus patients is increasing because people eschew vaccinations or neglect the need for booster shots, according to doctors.
