On September 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent 10 doses of the botulism antitoxin to Vietnam from its warehouse in Switzerland to help the country treat patients poisoned by Loi Song Moi Company's Minh Chay vegetarian paste contaminated with the botulinum toxin.
On September 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent 10 doses of the botulism antitoxin to Vietnam from its warehouse in Switzerland to help the country treat patients poisoned by Loi Song Moi Company’s Minh Chay vegetarian paste contaminated with the botulinum toxin.
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| Loi Song Moi Company’s vegetarian products, including the Minh Chay vegetarian paste, that led to 15 botulism cases in Vietnam – PHOTO: VNA |
Tran Thi Giang Huong, director of WHO’s Division of Programs for Disease Control for the Western Pacific region, said the Vietnamese Ministry of Health is working with WHO to complete the necessary procedures to receive the medicines.
Bach Mai Hospital will receive the medicines and deliver them to other hospitals that are treating the patients, such as Cho Ray Hospital and HCMC Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
In late August, WHO donated two botulism antitoxin bottles to help Vietnam treat two critical botulism poisoning cases, whose condition has improved now. The bottles, worth US$16,000, were transported from Thailand.
Botulism is a rare and potentially fatal illness caused by the botulinum toxin, a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum and related species.
Botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance known. The disease can cause muscle weakness, blurred vision, fatigue, trouble speaking, vomiting, swelling of the abdomen, diarrhea and death.
Vietnam has reported 15 botulism cases; all of them consumed the vegetarian paste contaminated with the botulinum toxin in Hanoi, HCMC and the provinces of Khanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Long An, Binh Duong and Quang Nam since July.
This is the first time the country has reported botulism cases in over 30 years, so it does not have a botulism antitoxin stockpile.
Loi Song Moi Company has been fined VND17.5 million for failing to meet food safety standards and has been asked to suspend the manufacturing and selling of its products and recall the products in the local market.
(Source:SGT)
