The Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control (HCDC) announced on Wednesday that the city had just discovered a cluster of H1N1 cases in District 10, leading 20 students at an elementary school to take unscheduled sick leave.

A report from the Medical Center of District 10 to the HCDC on March 16 showed an abnormal increase in the number of students taking sick leave at Vo Truong Toan Elementary School on the same day and the day before.

A total of 20 students of the school became ill with symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, and vomiting during the two days.

Some students had a fever of up to 39 degrees Celsius.

Doctors initially determined that the children suffered from a flu and randomly took six samples of them and sent them to the Pasteur Institute in the city to test for influenza. 

On March 17, the results showed that all of the samples returned positive for H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu. 

Since March 17, the school has not recorded any new cases of similar symptoms.

The HCDC surveillance data showed that the city has detected clusters of respiratory illnesses at different schools in Binh Thanh District since the beginning of this year.

The clusters were suppressed early to limit the spread.

Health authorities have warned people of respiratory illnesses during this season and have recommended paying attention to children and flu vaccinations.

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