Vietnam seeks foreign help to beat mystery skin disease

[tawadi]

Source: bbc

21 April 2012 Last updated at 11:11 ET

Vietnam seeks foreign help to beat mystery skin disease

Vietnam says it will ask for international help to find out what is causing a skin infection that has already killed 19 people.

More than 170 people in the country's central province of Quang Ngai have reported symptoms.

The disease begins with a rash on the hands and feet: it can progress to liver problems and multiple organ failure.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17799053

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The article goes on to say "the condition might be caused by chemicals."

Agent Orange?

[HeiressofBickworth]

1. DUH!

Just DUH. What did they think would happen after dumping tons of Agent Orange all over the country? It doesn't just turn to flowers and butterflies. Fuckwits.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. +1!

These poor people...

[skepticscott]

4. If this is an "infection"

then it's not agent orange, now is it? *DUH* Not everything is about "chemicals", and your narrow, paranoid view is not helpful in solving a medical mystery. What AO is there has been around a long time...how likely is it that this syndrome would never have been reported before now if it's responsible?

[TheWraith]

8. +100.

Some people really have trouble not filtering everything in the world through a lens of extreme paranoia to the point of tossing reason and science in the trash.

[ronnie624]

15. -100

Some people, in knee-jerk fashion, will attack anyone who criticizes the policies of the U.S. government, especially when those policies have resulted in the deaths of millions in other countries.

[skepticscott]

16. And some people

in knee-jerk fashion will assume that the US government must be responsible for anything bad that happens anywhere they've ever had influence, rather than waiting for the facts in each specific case.

[HeiressofBickworth]

11. A simple statement found on Wikipedia RE Agent Orange

"The contaminated soil and sediment CONTINUE to affect the citizens of Vietnam, poisoning their food chain and causing illnesses, SERIOUS SKIN DISEASES and a variety of cancers in the lungs, larynx, and prostate." (emphasis added)

Perhaps not the most scientific statement, but it's one I think is easily understood.

[skepticscott]

17. None of which are infections

as originally pointed out. And does Wikipedia also confirm that any health problems that crop up in any country where AO was used MUST be attributable to AO? And does it explain why, after decades, this syndrome is only now being observed?

[ronnie624]

14. Completely clueless.

You need to read up on the long-term effects of agent orange. I can guarantee you, that will be one of the first areas of examination.

[skepticscott]

18. Ah, so so have a link to reports

of this same syndrome being reported all over the area of use, ever since the employment of AO? Please, bestow it upon us.

[McCamy Taylor]

3. Consider a tick born disease such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cuWoyV19dq8C&pg=PA774&lpg=PA774&dq=rash+hands+feet+fever+organ+failure&source=bl&ots=mbaYBrNNji&sig=oLvriO_eheZWCNeHmIJ5vsk2KbM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uDGTT5K2MMey6QGLzomCBA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=rash%20hands%20feet%20fever%20organ%20failure&f=false

Rickettsial diseases like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever do not get better with new antibiotics. You have to treat them with tetracylcine or doxycyline.They cause rashes, high fever and organ failure, and they are notoriously hard to diagnose if you are not thinking of them.

Pretty sure that they first thing they thought of was meningicoccal disease and that the antibiotics used have been broad spectrum enough to cover this, strep and staph. Could be a virus, but that would have spread faster to more people.

Tic bites would only affect a few people and they would be seasonal--i.e. when people go outdoors.

Scrub typhus is another possibility, but the rash sounds wrong.

Anyway, if they are not trying tetracycline, they should.

[lunatica]

5. I hope they get help quickly

I'm a believer in helping each other out.

[Vehl]

7. yep

same here

Also research has shown that the best way to fight global disease outbreak is for countries to not hold onto vaccines, but to share it with other countries. Countless computer simulations using the IBM's STEM software ( http://researcher.ibm.com/view_project.php?id=883) shows this to be the most effective way of slowing down and eliminating global endemics.

So even those who might not want to share their vaccines/help others might be persuaded to help in this case..out of their self interest.

PS: The STEM software is available for free, for those who want to play around with it
http://www.eclipse.org/stem/

[Vehl]

6. sounds like Bacteria or a Virus

from the symptoms, instead of chemicals.

If it progresses fast, then it might be a virus.

[tawadi]

9. Hard to say from the article

"We have to block the entrances here to stop patients from getting out and spreading the disease," one resident, Pham Van Tray, told Vietnamese TV.

'Since we don't know what caused the disease, we will have to rely on our rituals and prayers.'

Vietnamese media quoted officials in Quang Ngai as saying that the condition might be caused by chemicals."

[jwirr]

10. Agent Orange?

[Poll_Blind]

12. My money's on fungal. You heard it here first. nt

PB

[hunter]

13. If the fungi turn against us, we are goners.

We'll die like blighted crops.

potato blight

[Canuckistanian]

19. Exactly what I thought

A slightly agent orange resistant fungus.