This development put Vietnam on the list of Asian nations hit by Zika, which is already affecting at least 61 countries and territories.
“The two patients are in a stable condition,” Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said in a report from the Vietnam News. “Tests have showed that none of the relatives or neighboring families of the two patients has the Zika infection.”
The first case involves a 64-year-old woman who fell sick late last month with headache, conjunctivitis, slight fever and hives on feet. She tested positive for the virus on March 31, seven days after she was admitted to the Khánh Hòa Tropical Diseases Hospital in Nha Trang City.
A 33-year-old woman was the second person in the country confirmed to have the Zika virus. The woman, two months pregnant, was admitted March 29 to Ho Chi Minh City’s District 2 General Hospital after she fell ill with hives and conjunctivitis. She was confirmed to have the virus on April 4.
As of Monday, health authorities have conducted tests on 1,215 samples collected from patients from areas suspected to have been affected by Zika, advising people to limit their travel across the regions and provinces in the country.
“We only warned pregnant women to consider carefully before entering a Zika-affected area, because the virus might cause brain damage or microcephaly in babies if the mothers had the Zika infection during their first three months of pregnancy,” Long said.
Since early March, Vietnam has intensified measures against Zika after an Australian tourist was tested positive for the virus after visiting the country. The man arrived on February 26 and visited Ho Chi Minh City and some central towns before leaving the country on March 6.
The World Health Organization had reported dozens of countries and territories, mostly in Latin America and Western Pacific region, to have been affected by the virus,
Vietnam is the latest Asian country reporting new cases of Zika. South Korea, Bangladesh, China and the Philippines are among the countries in the region hit by the virus.
