Vietnam’s health ministry has recommended that people think twice about having a favorite blood-based dish if they do not want to enjoy the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Tet holiday, on a sickbed. Raw blood soup is the biggest cause of streptococcus suis infection in humans, so people are advised to remove this dish from their Tet menu, the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the health ministry said in a recent announcement. Raw blood soup, or tiet canh in Vietnamese, is a dish made of the raw blood of ducks, geese, or pigs, with peanuts and herbs on top. The dish is usually served alongside traditional Vietnamese alcohol. More than 170 people were diagnosed with streptococcus suis infection, with 14 succumbing to the disease, in 2017, according to the preventive medicine department. Streptococcus suis, or S. suis, is a family of pathogenic gram-positive bacterial strains that represents a primary health problem in the swine industry worldwide. The bacterium, capable of transmitting from pigs to humans, is also an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes severe human infections clinically featuring with varied diseases and syndromes, including meningitis, septicemia, and arthritis. Those with severe symptoms can even die from the disease. S. suis infection is acquired through exposure to contaminated pigs or pig meat, and the most common cause of the disease in Vietnam is eating pig blood soup that is improperly cooked, according to the preventive medicine department. “The number of infection cases tends to rise before and during the Tet… [Read full story]
Exorbitant transport costs make Vietnam goods uncompetitive Trung Chanh CAN THO – Vietnam’s logistics costs remain high as they represent 20.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) and are double the world’s average, with transport expenditures making up the largest proportion and thus hurting the competitiveness of domestic products. At a conference on logistics development in the transportation sector in the Mekong Delta held in Dong Thap Province on December 18, Le Duy Hiep, chairman of the Vietnam Logistics Association (VLA), said the logistics sector has grown at an annual rate of 15-16% and has been ranked 64th in the logistics performance index. However, high…... [read more]
High business expenses and excessive inspections were among issues with the business environment in Vietnam raised by entrepreneurs at a meeting on Wednesday with Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc. High business expenses and excessive inspections were among issues with the business environment in Vietnam raised by entrepreneurs at a meeting on Wednesday with Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The event, attended by some 2,000 local and foreign entrepreneurs, senior officials, and representatives from financial institutions and professional associations, was the largest pro-business meeting of its kind ever held between a Vietnamese head of government and the country's business community. Themed…... [read more]
Health authorities in Vietnam have put on the table two solutions to address blood shortages as part of the latest draft law on blood and stem cell donations. The options are to make blood donations compulsory or keep them voluntary. The Health Ministry recommends the latter. If policy makers agree on the former, some 46 million people, or half of Vietnam’s total population, will be forced to donate blood once a year, and supply will outstrip demand by nearly 7 million liters. Nguyen Quang Huy, head of the Health Ministry’s Department of Legal Affairs, told VnExpress that the ministry is…... [read more]
A CT scan photo provided by doctors at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases shows worms making home in the brain of a 58-year-old patient, who likes eating pig blood pudding A fan of raw pig blood pudding has been admitted to a major Hanoi hospital with parasitic worms in his brain. The 58-year-old victim from the nearby mountainous province of Lang Son was partly conscious and suffering seizure when admitted to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases on May 12. CT scan found that worms have made roughly 50 homes in the different layers of his brain, VnExpress reported.…... [read more]
Raw blood pudding is a Vietnamese specialty and has proved to be a risky one. Photo: Vu Phuong A man from Phu Tho Province has died from bacterial infection after eating raw pig blood pudding, an exotic Vietnamese dish linked to diseases and many fatalities. The 67-year-old man ate the pudding, known in Vietnamese as tiet canh, at a restaurant near his house on May 17. He developed fever, nausea and became poorly conscious the day after that, news website VnExpress reported. He was rushed to Phu Tho General Hospital and then to the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in…... [read more]
