The Hue Central Hospital in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam has treated two children who caught Whitmore's disease, also known as melioidosis, from neighboring Quang Tri Province, deputy director of the hospital Le Thi Lan Huong said on Wednesday.

Ten days earlier, Nguyen L.D.H., 18 months old, had a swollen boil under his left ear and was running a fever.

Doctors took a sample from the boil for biopsy testing and found Burkhoderia Pseudomallei bacteria, which causes Whitmore’s disease.

After two weeks of treatment, H. was released from hospital and underwent further treatment at home.

The second case was seven-month-old Trinh N.N..

Five days prior to being hospitalized, N. had been suffering from a constant high fever, diarrhea, rapid breathing, and shortness of breath.

N. was rushed to a hospital in Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Province and was diagnosed with severe pneumonia, sepsis, fever, rapid breathing, and shortness of breath.

N. was later transferred to the Hue Central Hospital, where N. was found to have caught Burkholderia Pseudomallei bacteria. 

The child patient has improved but is still being treated at the hospital.

Do Van Hung, director of the Quang Tri Department of Health, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that local healthcare agencies have zoned off the patients’ residences and called on the residents there to ensure hygiene to prevent the bacteria from spreading and take caution upon contacting contaminated soil and water when having open wounds.

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