Vietnam’s children hospital sees three-fold increase in Adenovirus cases

In the first few days of this month, the hospital confirmed 383 additional cases, indicating a sharp upward trend in infections.

The hospital recently identified a cluster in which four out of five children attending the same public swimming class infected one another, highlighting the risk of cross-transmission in shared recreational facilities.

Nguyen Thi Mai Hoan, head of the hospital’s general outpatient department, said the department has received many children with persistent high fever of unknown cause over the past week.

“Most children have continuous fever lasting three to five days,” Hoan said.

“After conducting clinical examinations and laboratory testing, we found clear signs of systemic inflammation, with high white blood cell counts and C-reactive protein levels, while Adenovirus tests returned positive.”

Unlike previous years, when Adenovirus mainly affected younger children with typical symptoms such as respiratory infections, pink eye, or gastrointestinal illness, doctors are now seeing more infections among older children.

Many of these patients do not develop characteristic symptoms and instead present with prolonged high fever that responds poorly to fever reducers, she added.

Adenovirus is a common virus that circulates year-round but typically becomes more prevalent during seasonal transitions and the summer months, when children spend more time outdoors and participate in group activities.

The virus spreads mainly through respiratory droplets, eyes or mucous membranes during swimming, or through contact with contaminated surfaces and water.

Health experts warned that outbreaks can occur easily in public spaces such as schools, extracurricular classes, playgrounds, and public swimming pools.

Parents are advised to seek medical attention promptly if their child develops persistent high fever, prolonged cough, pink eye or gastrointestinal symptoms.

Parents should not use antibiotics without a doctor’s prescription.

They should not take children with fever, cough, or digestive symptoms to public swimming pools or crowded places to reduce the risk of transmission.

Managers of schools, playgrounds, and public swimming facilities need to disinfect water supplies and shared surfaces regularly, maintain good ventilation, and control crowd density to help prevent cross-infection within the community.