This prospective study was conducted with 159 patients of colon cancer who underwent an endoscopy and an operation at the Hospital K in Hanoi. Most frequent symptoms were abdominal pain -81.8%, change of rectal habit- 74.2%, large bowel obstruction-12.6%. The symptoms were lasting for 10.7 months. Rigid endoscopy was performed on 11.3% of patients; and flexible on 88.7%. A majority of tumors -55.99%, were detected in sigmoid colon, 25.9% were necrotic tumors. Synchronous polyps were found in combining with 23.3% of tumors. Endoscopic accuracy reached to 96.9%. In conclusion, endoscopy is the method of choice for detecting the colon cancer
Colonic Neoplasms ; Endosonography ; diagnosis

Background: In 24 years, Expanded Programe on Immunization\r\n', u'(EPI) at Thua Thien Hue province achieve high efficiency, reduce remarkably infection rate of children disease in EPI. Objectives: Assessment of instruments and cold chain at City, District Health Center and Commune Health station. Assessment of knowledge and practice EPI of medical officers in districts and communes. Subjects and method: Instrument, cold chain system and officers at City, District Health Center and Commune Health station. Method: Cross-section descriptive study; Observe instruments and cold chain at Health stations and fill in available forms. Interview medical officers, observe practical manipulation and fill in available forms. Results: The rate of good knowledge varied from 61,64% to 94,55% and the rate of appropriate practice was from 45,70% to 80,92%. On average, each commune health station had 0,421 refrigeration; 0,128 ice cabinet; 0,258 cold box; 2,259 thermoses; 6,623 ice packs; 2,826 thermometers and11,321 safe boxes. All commune health stations have vaccine containing thermos; one station has no thermometer; two have no safe box and five have no ice pack. Conclusion: All commune health stations have essential instruments, cold chain. Very few health station lack of one or some types. Medical officers almost have basic knowledge about expandedimmunization, the rate of answering right theoretical questions from 61,64% to 94,55%. Practical manipulation had still many errors, rate of manipulation right only 45,70% to 80,92%. District officers manipulated right higher than commune officers.\r\n', u'
Refrigeration/ instrumentation ; Vaccination/ instrumentation ; mortality ; methods ; Health Knowledge ; Attitudes ; Practice ;

Background: HIV/AIDS pandemic really become danger to mankind on the earth. Objectives: Description epidemiological characteristics of HIV/AIDS patients. Studying clinical expression, learning aboutdemands of infected patients and community care for infected patients. Subjects and method: 71 HIV/AIDS people in Thua Thien Hue were studied in 2006. Using descriptive method to give epidemiological characteristics and behaviour of HIV/AIDS people. People were determined HIV/AIDS infection based on the criteria of Ministry of Health. The information were collected by target study. Results: HIV/AIDS people mainly from the age of 20 to 39 (83,10%), males were 52,10% and in various levels of education and all kinds of occupation. The rate of sexually transmitted infection was 84,5% and infection transmission was 15,5%. The rate of sexually transmitted infection within the last 12 months was 57,7%. 63,4% of infected people used condom while having sex with their spouses or partners. 1,4% of infected people using drug infection within the last month. 38% of the infected people had manifestations of AIDS, 77,8% of HIV/AIDS were treated with antiviral drugs. Families and communities had positive attitudes and behaviors to the HIV/AIDS people. Infected people being remoted from the society was 12,7%, 88,7% of them receiving supports from their communities such as disease treatment, spirit and material supports and job opportunities. Conclusion: Strengthen communication activities to change behavior of HIV/AIDS people and in communitiy to reduce alienation, discrimination for infected people. Execute socialization in care and support for HIV/AIDS people.
HIV/ immunology ; isolation & ; purification ; pathogenicity ; Community Health Services/ organization & ; administration ; Epidemiologic Methods ;

Background: With the development of HIV/AIDS pandemic in community, amount of HIV/AIDS people more and more increase in prison. Objectives: Determine the rate of HIV/AIDS infection of prisoners at Binh Dien prison. Learning about related elements to HIV/AIDS infection. Subjects and method: Prisoners at Binh Dien prison. Method: 492 prisoners were chosen, interviewed directly and taken blood samples to HIV test. Using cross-sectional study on accidental samples. Techniques were used in this study: SERODIA-HIV and ELISA technique. Results: The rate of current HIV/AIDS infections was 21,74%, some HIV/AIDS related factors in the prison included sex, religion, income source, marrital status, common knowledge of HIV/AIDS, drug addiction history, needle sharing, sexually transmitted disease history, body tatoos and forskin inserted with metal balls, alcohol and beer drinking history, some factors such as: age and educational level were not associated with HIV/AIDS infection in prison. Conclusion: Strengthen interventional activities in prison to prevent HIV/AIDS spread between prisoners. To prisoners who were not infected HIV/AIDS: strengthen educational communication to they may prevent themselves from HIV/AIDS infection behaviors. To HIV/AIDS prisoners: Need to educate and consult especially to they have right behaviors, prevent HIV/AIDS spread for the others while they were in prison as well as they return to society.
HIV Infections/ blood ; complications ; epidemiology ;

BACKGROUND: In order to provide essential scientific evidence on the population's health status and social health determinants as well as the current capacity of the health care system in Vietnam to health policy makers and managers, Vietnam Ministry of Health, Hanoi University of Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, and Ho Chi Minh University of Medicine and Pharmacy collaborated with Seoul National University (Korea) and conducted a health system survey in the Quoc Oai district (of Hanoi capital) that represented northern rural Vietnam. METHODS: The study design was a cross-sectional study. The survey covered different topics (more than 200 questions) and was administered in three separate questionnaires: 1) Basic information of all household members; 2) Household characteristics; and 3) Individual characteristics. Socio-demographic characteristics among the households and individuals were collected from 2,400 households sampled by multi-stage cluster sampling method: more than 200 questions. RESULTS: The household size of Quoc Oai was larger than the national average and there was no significant difference in gender composition. In addition, the proportions of pre-elderly, age 55–64, and elderly group (65 years old and over) were higher than the national population statistics. In this context, demographic transition has begun in Quoc Oai. CONCLUSION: This study design description provides the basic information about a baseline survey of a future prospective cohort (as a part of a collaborative project on strengthening the health system in Vietnam) to the prospective data user of this survey.
Aged ; Cohort Studies ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Delivery of Health Care ; Family Characteristics ; Health Policy ; Humans ; Methods ; Pharmacy ; Population Characteristics ; Population Dynamics ; Prospective Studies ; Public Health ; Seoul ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vietnam

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.

Background: Viet Nam confirmed its first case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on 23 January 2020 among travellers from Wuhan, China, and experienced several clusters of community transmission until September. Viet Nam implemented an aggressive testing, isolation, contact tracing and quarantine strategy in response to all laboratory-confirmed cases. We report the results of SARS-CoV-2 testing during the first half of 2020 in northern Viet Nam. Methods: Between January and May 2020, 15 650 upper respiratory tract specimens were collected from 14 470 suspected cases and contacts in northern Viet Nam. All were tested for SARS-CoV-2 by real-time RT-PCR. Individuals with positive specimens were tested every three days until two tests were negative. Positive specimens from 81 individuals were cultured. Results: Among 14 470 tested individuals, 158 (1.1%) cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were confirmed; 89 were imported and 69 were associated with community transmission. Most patients (122, 77%) had negative results after two tests, while 11 and 4 still tested positive when sampled a third and fourth time, respectively. SARS-CoV-2 was isolated from 29 of 81 specimens (36%) with a cycle threshold (Ct) value <30. Seven patients who tested positive again after testing negative had Ct values >30 and negative cultures. Conclusion Early, widespread testing for SARS-CoV-2 in northern Viet Nam identified very few cases, which, when combined with other aggressive strategies, may have dramatically contained the epidemic. We observed rapid viral clearance and very few positive results after clearance. Large-scale molecular diagnostic testing is a critical part of early detection and containment of COVID-19 in Viet Nam and will remain necessary until vaccination is widely implemented.

As authorities braced for the arrival of the Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), infrastructure investments and government directives prompted action in central Viet Nam to establish capacity for genomic surveillance sequencing. From 17 November 2021 to 7 January 2022, the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang sequenced 162 specimens from 98 150 confirmed SARS-CoV-2 cases in the region collected from 8 November to 31 December 2021. Of these, all 127 domestic cases were identified as the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, whereas 92% (32/35) of imported cases were identified as the B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant, all among international flight passengers. Patients were successfully isolated, enabling health-care workers to prepare for additional cases. Most (78%) of the 32 Omicron cases were fully vaccinated, suggesting continued importance of public health and social measures to control the spread of new variants.

Objectives: Asymptomatic infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and test re-positivity after a negative test have raised concerns about the ability to effectively control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of COVID-19 asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections during the second wave of COVID-19 in Viet Nam, and to better understand the duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the dynamics between the evolution of clinical symptoms and SARS-CoV-2 test positivity among confirmed COVID-19 cases. Methods: We conducted a cohort analysis on the first 50 confirmed cases during the second COVID-19 wave in Viet Nam using clinical, laboratory and epidemiological data collected from 9 March to 30 April 2020. Kaplan-Meier estimates were used to assess time to clearance of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and log-rank tests were used to explore factors related to time to SARS-CoV-2 infection clearance. Results: Most cases (58%) had no typical signs or symptoms of COVID-19 at the time of diagnosis. Ten cases (20%) were re-positive for SARS-CoV-2 during infection. Eight cases (16%) experienced COVID-19 symptoms after testing negative for SARS-CoV-2. The median duration from symptom onset until clearance of infection was 14 days (range: 6–31); it was longer in re-positive and older patients and those with pre-existing conditions. Conclusion Asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic infections were common during the second wave of COVID-19 in Viet Nam. Re-positivity was frequent during hospitalization and led to a long duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection.