HÀ NỘI — Doctors have advised people not to consume the meat of sick pigs, following the death of one person who ate infected pork. Another person is in critical condition.

Nguyễn Trung Cấp, head of the Emergency Department at the Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases (CHTD), said the department received two patients infected with the parasite Trichinella.

The patients hailed from Lai Châu Province and were brought to the hospital after suffering from exhaustion and painful muscles. They could not swallow anything and found it difficult to speak, he said.

Despite being treated at the intensive care with specific treatment, one of the patients died from cardiac arrest after being hospitalised for two days.

"The other patient is still being treated. He has suffered respiratory failure and is unable to eat due to sore throat,” Cấp said, adding that the patient has lost 10kg in just a few days.

According to the patients’ relatives, the family had slaughtered a sick pig early last month. They prepared tiết canh (a delicacy with raw pig’s blood) and a dish with uncooked pork.

After five days, five men in the family complained of stomachache, diarrhoea, high fever and severe pain in the muscles.

The patients underwent treatment at local hospitals for five days, but their condition worsened. Two of them were later transferred to CHTD.

According to Cấp, helminthiasis in humans is caused by a roundworm named Trichinella, which is present in many animals. People who eat raw or undercooked poultry are infected with Trichinella spiralis, but almost everyone can get helminthiasis.

To prevent such diseases, people should not eat tiếtcanh and dishes made from uncooked meat as they contain many types of bacteria and viruses which cause diseases, Cấp said. He pointed out people should avoid buying pork with an unusual red colour as it might be the meat of sick pigs.

In a related news, some 50 workers from Friwo Co.Ltd, located in the Amata Industrial Zone in BiênHòa City in southern Đồng Nai Province, were hospitalised on Monday afternoon after they fell ill from food poisoning.

According to the workers, who are undergoing treatment, many of them started showing symptoms of food poisoning, such as nausea, dizziness and stomach ache, within an hour of having lunch.

They were promptly rushed to Đồng Nai General Hospital.

Nguyễn Xuân Hoàng, head of the emergency treatment department at the hospital, said the workers received first aid after being admitted. By 4pm some of their conditions stabilised and they were discharged from the hospital, he said.

The provincial Food Hygiene and Safety Department has collected food samples for testing. — VNS