Symptoms and ways to prevent influenza A / H7N9

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), influenza A / H7N9 is complicated and unpredictable and there is a risk of a pandemic outbreak.

Currently, the flu A / H7N9 is booming again in China, causing many deaths. Our country has a long common border with China, there is a very active trade relations, so the risk of infection with influenza A / H7N9 from your country is highly appreciated by the Ministry of Health. Government, relevant ministries and localities throughout the country have developed countermeasures to minimize the impact if the A / H7N9 flu occurs in Vietnam.

1. Some information about influenza A / H7N9

Influenza A / H7N9 virus is a new strain, genetically derived from avian influenza virus and a number of birds, capable of infecting humans, leading to rapid progressive pneumonia, high mortality rate (over 27%) ). Currently, the transmission route of influenza A / H7N9 virus is not well understood and there is no conclusion about human-to-human transmission of influenza. However, the majority of detected cases of influenza A / H7N9 have close contact with birds infected with influenza A / H7N9.

Before raging in China, influenza A / H7N9 virus has never caused illness in humans.

Before raging in China, the influenza A / H7N9 virus has never caused illness in humans, this strain is occasionally found in birds and chickens. Influenza strains in the "family" of the H7 influenza virus have infected more than 100 people in the past 10 years. According to a study in the 2003 Journal of Biological Virus, the strain of "relatives" with H7N9, H7N7, broke out, causing 89 Dutch people to be infected, one died.

The "H" and "N" in the name of the virus correspond to two viral surface protein components (antigen), hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Influenza viruses have up to 16 types of hemagglutinin and 9 types of neuraminidase, which produce many different combinations, leading to many influenza viruses with different motivations such as influenza A / H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, H7N9 .

2. Symptoms of influenza A / H5N1 patients

Through the study of patients with influenza A / H7N9 in China, scientists found that the clinical symptoms of influenza A H5N1 patients were similar to other flu strains, including:

• Fever: A fever of 39-40 degrees Celsius
• Pain in joints, headache, nausea, vomiting.
• Some patients show upper respiratory tract inflammation such as runny nose, sneezing, sore throat .
• Coughing, tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing increases.
• Symptoms of respiratory distress: purple lips, head, fast breathing, contraction of respiratory muscles.
• Severe and critical manifestations include: oliguria or anuria, edema, heart failure, scattered intravascular coagulation, severe liver failure, coma .

Do not eat sick, dead or unidentified poultry meat that must be destroyed immediately upon detection.

Chest X-ray shows a picture of injury similar to that of influenza A / H5N1: uneven hues, initially appearing in one lobe of the lung after spreading to 2 lungs if not treated promptly. The degree of lung damage on radiographs also corresponds to the clinical severity and severity of patients.

In order to diagnose influenza A / H7N9 infection, it is necessary to isolate virus from specimens that are oropharyngeal or bronchial fluid, identify and identify gene sequences by PCR or culture in laboratories. Modern virus in the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.

3. Prevention and treatment of influenza A / H7N9

Prevention

For individuals:

• Enhance personal hygiene measures such as: Wash hands with soap or antiseptic chemicals, wear masks when going to the street or contact patients with flu, mouthwash, nasal discharge with saline, TB solution. .
• Improving physical condition, eating healthy nutrition, adding vitamins A and C, regularly practicing and strengthening health, maintaining moderate weight (Calculating according to BMI).
• Stable treatment of chronic diseases if present such as COPD, diabetes, cirrhosis.Quitting alcohol, tobacco, waterpipe tobacco . if addicted.
• Full protective equipment includes: masks, hats, glasses, gloves . when raising, buying, selling, slaughtering poultry, not eating poultry sick, dead or unidentified but must bring pepper cancel immediately upon detection.
• Vaccination: There is no vacancy for the A / H7N9 flu room, the Ministry of Health encourages people, especially those at high risk of illness, the elderly and children . should be vaccinated against the seasonal flu vaccine. every year because this vaccine also works to relieve symptoms and limit death caused by dangerous strains of influenza such as influenza A / H5N1, H7N9 .

Need to monitor livestock in the area.

For the community

• Propagating people to fully understand information about influenza epidemics so that each person can take proactive measures to prevent diseases for themselves and their families.
• Maintaining a healthy living environment and supervising breeding poultry in the area.
• When detecting people with flu symptoms, they must isolate treatment at health facilities to limit the spread to others, and at the same time inform functional agencies to monitor epidemiology and seal epidemics if any. .

Treatment

To date, two drugs that work specifically to treat influenza A / H7N9 are Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and Zanamivir, which are prepared by the Ministry of Health to treat patients infected with influenza A / H7N9. However, the drug only works best within 48 hours after a fever, so patients suspected of having the flu need to go to hospitals early to be diagnosed and treated promptly, avoiding serious life-threatening complications. Positive resuscitation measures such as mechanical ventilation, extracorporeal dialysis, blood transfusion, plasma transfusion, cardiovascular support . are applied to severe and critical patients but the mortality rate is very high.

Bs: Tran Duc Bang
General Department of Hung Yen province