Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis resists rifampicin (RIF) because of mutations in the rpoB (the p subunit of RNA polymerase) gene, mostly in the 81 bp region. \r\n', u'Objectives: Identify the frequency and characteristics relative to drug - resistant rpoB gene mutation in RIF - resistant M. tuberculosis strains. \r\n', u'Subjects and method: 40 M. tuberculosis strains including 11 RIF - sensitive strains and 29 RIF - resistant strains. Some bio molecular techniques were used such as extracting mycobacterial DNA, PCR, cloning, sequencing and analyzing mutation related RIF - resistance on rpoB gene. \r\n', u'Results: No mutation was found on the 81 bp region of rpoB gene of the RIF - sensitive M. tuberculosis strains. The rate of mutation on rpoB gene of 29 RIF - resistant M. tuberculosis strains is 96.6%. We found 12 mutation codon positions on the 81 bp region of the rpoB gene, and the mutation codon positions with high frequency were 531 (51.7%) and 526 (31%). The mutation position found in only one strain is codon 519 (3.4%) but not found in other reports. There are 15 types of drug resistant mutations in which TCG531 TCG is the most common with 50%. Multi - drug resistance was seen in mutable and none mutable cases, with all codon positions and mutable forms. \r\n', u'Conclusion: No mutation was found on the 81 bp region of the rpoB gene of RtF - sensitive M. tuberculosis strains. The rate of mutation on the rpoB gene of RIF - resistant M. tuberculosis strains is 96.6%. The new mutation position found is codon 519. The mutation on the rpoB gene does not determine the multi - drug resistance of M. tuberculosis. \r\n', u'
Mutation ; rpoB gene ; Rifampicin - resistant M. tuberculosis

Over the years many approaches have been used in communication for behavioral changes in nutrition. The overall aim of this study was to provide practical insights into how participatory, audience-centered communication activities can be effectively used for imparting information and for behavioral change promotion on the topic of dietary diversity and micronutrient nutrition, among reproductive-age women in Vietnam. The communication initiatives for improving nutrition knowledge and practices of the women in two selected communes (Dongky and Donglac) in Bacgiang province were carried out from January, 2003 to December, 2005. The Dongky commune was selected as the intervention commune, while the Donglac commune served as the control. In the intervention commune of Dongky the problems and strategies of nutrition communication and education were defined, IEC materials and some seeds of iron-rich vegetables and fruits were provided. Besides that, a contest on nutrition knowledge at a primary school and a competition between nutrition collaborators were held. The results of the study showed that food consumption of the women in both communes improved compared to levels at the baseline survey, especially in the intervention commune. The total knowledge scores and the nutrition practices of the women in the Dongky commune significantly improved compared to the data at baseline and were higher compared to that of the control commune.
commune ; Nutritional status ; Human Females ; Communication ; seconds

Objectives: Online misinformation has reached unprecedented levels during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study analyzed the magnitude and sentiment dynamics of misinformation and unverified information about public health interventions during a COVID-19 outbreak in Da Nang, Vietnam, between July and September 2020. Methods: We analyzed user-generated online information about five public health interventions during the Da Nang outbreak. We compared the volume, source, sentiment polarity, and engagements of online posts before, during, and after the outbreak using negative binomial and logistic regression, and assessed the content validity of the 500 most influential posts. Results: Most of the 54,528 online posts included were generated during the outbreak (n = 46,035; 84.42%) and by online newspapers (n = 32,034; 58.75%). Among the 500 most influential posts, 316 (63.20%) contained genuine information, 10 (2.00%) contained misinformation, 152 (30.40%) were non-factual opinions, and 22 (4.40%) contained unverifiable information. All misinformation posts were made during the outbreak, mostly on social media, and were predominantly negative. Higher levels of engagement were observed for information that was unverifiable (incidence relative risk [IRR] = 2.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33–0.62), posted during the outbreak (before: IRR = 0.15; 95% CI, 0.07–0.35; after: IRR = 0.46; 95% CI, 0.34-0.63), and with negative sentiment (IRR = 1.84; 95% CI, 1.23–2.75). Negatively toned posts were more likely to be misinformation (odds ratio [OR] = 9.59; 95% CI, 1.20–76.70) or unverified (OR = 5.03; 95% CI, 1.66–15.24). Conclusions Misinformation and unverified information during the outbreak showed clustering, with social media being particularly affected. This indepth assessment demonstrates the value of analyzing online “infodemics” to inform public health responses.

In this report we describe a new approach in HIV sentinel surveillance that was piloted in Viet Nam in 2009 and is currently being rolled out in all provinces. It comprises a brief behavioural questionnaire added to the HIV sentinel surveillance surveys conducted routinely among people who inject drugs, female sex workers and men who have sex with men. Timely reporting of data from this system has resulted in improvements to HIV prevention efforts for most at-risk populations.

The Omicron variant caused a surge of infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Viet Nam in early 2022, signalling community transmission. We report on active whole-genome sequencing surveillance of positive SARS-CoV-2 samples collected at that time in northern Viet Nam from international arrivals and community clusters. We used an amplicon protocol developed with 14 polymerase chain reaction products and the Illumina iSeq 100 platform. Overall, 213 nasopharyngeal or throat swabs were analysed, of which 172 samples were identified with the Omicron variant. Of these, 80 samples were collected from community cases in February 2022, among which 59 samples were sublineage BA.2 and one sample was the recombinant XE variant. Our results indicated that Omicron had replaced Delta as the dominant variant in a very short period of time and that continuously conducting active whole-genome sequencing surveillance is necessary in monitoring the evolution and genomic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Viet Nam.

Objective: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a primary cause of paediatric severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) worldwide, especially in developing countries. We investigated the genetic characteristics of RSV in northern Viet Nam to determine the prevalence and distribution of subtypes as well as the diversity and transmission patterns of genotypes. Methods: In two facilities, from January 2017 to December 2020, 1563 clinical specimens were collected from paediatric patients hospitalized with SARI and tested for RSV. Selected positive samples underwent sequencing analysis targeting the second hypervariable region of the G gene using next-generation sequencing. Results: The RSV positivity rate was 28.02% (438/1563 samples), and prevalence was highest in children aged <1 year (43.84%; 192/438). Subtype RSV-A accounted for 53.42% (234/438) of cases, RSV-B for 45.89% (201/438), and there was coinfection in 0.68% (3/438). Both subtypes cocirculated and peaked during August–September in each year of the study. Phylogenetic analysis showed that RSV-A samples belonged to the ON1 genotype, which has three subgenotypes: ON1.1, ON1.2 and ON1.3. However, we did not find the 72-nucleotide duplication in the second hypervariable region of the G gene, a characteristic of genotype ON1, in any RSV-A samples. RSV-B samples belonged to genotype BA9. Discussion: Our results provide additional molecular characterization of RSV infections in Viet Nam. Specially, our study is the first to report the absence of the 72-nucleotide duplication in the G gene of RSV-A genotype ON1 in Viet Nam, which may help in understanding the genetic evolution of RSV and be useful for vaccine development in the future.