The Ho Chi Minh City Preventive Health Center is planning to kill rats across the city after a test showed that some rats carry Hanta virus that causes kidney failure.

>> Kidney-failure causing rats found in HCMC

The Ho Chi Minh City Preventive Health Center is planning to kill rats across the city after a test showed that three of the 25 randomly-selected sewer rats and house mice carry Hanta virus that causes kidney failure. This rat-killing plan is of the largest scale in the past several years, said Dr Tran Phu Manh Sieu, the center’s director. Sieu said the center has asked its units to send preparatory plans, including specific locations for rat-killing and volumes of chemicals to be used. Based on such plans, the center will draft an overall plan and submit it to the city Health Department for approval, Sieu said. Especially in Ward 9, District 3 where a 55-year-old patient recently tested positive for the virus, the center will launch a simultaneous rat trapping scheme there, along with spraying chemicals. Residents will be fully informed about the plan, including how to collect and dispose of dead rats.

One of the numerous rats found at a market area in Ho chi Minh City (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

As previously reported, three of the samples taken from 25 sewer rats and house mice in HCMC were found carrying the Hanta virus that can cause kidney failure. The tests were conducted by the Ho Chi Minh City Pasteur Institute following the case in which T was taken to the Tropical Disease Hospital on October 17 with a high fever, cough, skin rashes, and low platelet count. T then developed symptoms of kidney failure and a test later confirmed that he had contracted the virus. In general, the virus can cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS). However, HPS has yet to be found in Vietnam. There have been no deaths from HFRS in Vietnam so far. In 2009, two cases of HFRS were successfully treated.