An outbreak of chickenpox has been reported at Gunze Việt Nam Co Ltd in HCM City’s Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone, with 30 people contracting the disease since November 17. — Photo nld.com.vn

HCM CITY — An outbreak of chickenpox has been reported at Gunze Việt Nam Co Ltd in HCM City’s Tân Thuận Export Processing Zone, with 30 people contracting the disease since November 17, according to the HCM City Preventive Health Centre.

The centre warned that the current weather is favourable for the spread of chickenpox.

Dr Nguyễn Trí Dũng, the centre’s head, told Việt Nam News that the company was on Wednesday provided with disinfectants for its premises to avoid a further spread.

It also advised the company’s staff to maintain hygiene, wear masks, and wash their hands regularly to avoid transmission, he said.

It also told workers not vaccinated against the disease to immediately get a shot, he said.

The city Department of Health has urged the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zone Authority to take preventive measures against contagious diseases at export processing and industrial parks.

Companies there are required to report to district preventive health centres within 14 days when two workers become ill.

When a disease breaks out, they are required to co-operate with health officials to prevent further spread.

Trương Hữu Khanh, head of the infection and neurology ward at Paediatrics Hospital 1, said the chickenpox season lasts from December to May or June.

People who have not been vaccinated could get the disease, Khanh warned, saying that when one member of a family is infected the remaining members could be too.

It spreads easily in crowded environments, he said.

“The virus can be transmitted from patients to other ones through tiny droplets when they have not had blisters or red spots.”

The disease is more virulent in adults than in children, he said.

It affects the foetus when a pregnant woman contracts the disease within the first three months, he said.

A person who contracts the disease could develop skin infection and encephalitis and even die, he added. —VNS